Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache.

Reaching into the drawer, I grabbed a few pills and swallowed them dry before picking up my phone, which had been vibrating non-stop.

“Hello?”

“Joanna! Finally! I’ve been trying to reach you,” a frantic voice said on the other end.

“Your mom suddenly went into shock. Her surgery has to be moved up, but I can’t get in touch with Dr. Blake. Is he home? Can you get him here right away?”

My mind went blank.

Throwing on a coat, I raced downstairs, searching every room in the house, but William was nowhere to be found.

I called him over and over again, even as I jumped into a cab and started going to all the places he might be.

Ten calls. No answer.

I arrived at the hospital, and a nurse ran up to me, her face full of worry.

“Joanna! Where’s Dr. Blake?”

My lips trembled, and my face went pale. “He… he’s not here yet?”

“Where’s my mom? I want to see her! Take me to her right now!”

“Please, someone else can do the surgery!”

The nurse hesitated, guilt flashing across her face. “All the other doctors are in surgery right now. Your mom… it all happened so suddenly.”

My heart pounded in my chest as dread consumed me.

Through the glass of the emergency room, I could see two doctors trying desperately to save my mom.

She lay there, completely still, a breathing tube in her mouth. She looked so weak, so fragile—it broke me.

Just yesterday, she’d texted me to wish me a happy birthday.

Now, tears streamed down my face as I pounded on the glass. “Please! Save her! She’s all I have left!”

“Joanna, calm down! Please!” The nurse grabbed me, trying to pull me away.

Suddenly, the door to the operating room burst open, and William rushed in, sweat dripping down his face. He was already wearing a surgical cap, moving with urgency as he entered the room.

He picked up the scalpel, but before he could make the first incision, the heart monitor let out a terrible, high-pitched sound.

Beep—

The faint hope I’d been clinging to disappeared in an instant.

On the monitor, the once-erratic lines flattened into a single, endless line.

That line was the wall that now separated me and my mom forever.

“Mom!” I collapsed to the floor, clutching my chest as if the grief would suffocate me.

I felt something wet against my left hand, which was resting on the ground.

Looking down, I saw bright red blood trailing down my legs and pooling on the floor.

“Joanna! Blood—there’s blood!” the nurse screamed.

A sharp pain shot through my body, and everything went black.