Chapter 5

I sprang up, my heart pounding in my chest.

The doctor just sighed and shook his head. My heart felt as if it had sunk into an abyss.

I grabbed the doctor by the collar, my voice breaking. "Sally will be okay, right? Tell me she'll be okay!"

He looked downcast and told me they had done their best, but we'd have to see how she did in the ICU.

"Where's her father? It would be best if he could come too," he added softly.

Desperation clawed at my insides. I wanted to shake the doctor, beg him to do more, to not give up. But then I saw my precious daughter, Sally, covered in tubes, being wheeled toward the ICU. I ran after her, my cries echoing in the sterile hallways.

"Sally! Sally, you'll be alright, my dear Sally," I sobbed out the words, my voice cracking.

Her eyes were closed, her small body swathed in bandages. Her face was ghostly pale and lifeless, like a broken doll. Just before I left on my business trip, she had been so full of life. She had been hugging me and calling out