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“Of course,” he said softly “Follow me”

The hospital hallas eerily quiet Nurses walked by on crepe-soled shoes, barely rippling the air with their presence Room after room was dark, the curtains drawn Eazines lay slumped on Formica tables

Lina had grown up in hospitals As a child, she’d played in corridors like this, waddling after s-rooht of hospitals as her mother’s workplace, no different from a lawyer’s office or a beauty salon

But now she saw them for what they were—shadoarehouses where the dead and dying were housed in quiet, curtained rooms, where h thick electrical cords

She felt her mother beside her, heard her penny loafers click on the linoleuh her mom’s hand and squeeze, but she couldn’t make herself do it Her ars felt as rubbery as fresh Jell-O Tears were a stinging, burning veil that turned everything into a smear of white

Finally Dr Nusbaue observationrevealed the roo Francis from their eyes

The doctor turned to thelance at Lina, then spoke quietly to Madelaine “The injury to the left side was extensive He’s bandaged, but…”

Lina thought instantly of Francis’s s his eyes, creating a dozen little folds across his cheeks

She drew in a sharp breath

“Thank you, Dr Nusbaum,” her mother said in a stiff, wooden voice “I’ll speak to you after I’ve seen him”

Lina stared at herhow she could

be so ht now

Dr Nusbaum nodded and left them alone

“I don’t understand, Mo her best not to cry “Maybe he’s in a coma… People come out of comas, don’t they? Maybe if we talked to him—”

Mom sed hard “It’s not a co his body functioning, but everything that he is—he was—is gone”