Lauren
I stood at the edge of the bed, my arms wrapped around myself like I could hold all the broken pieces of my heart together.
The monitor’s steady beeping felt like a countdown, each sound slicing through me. My eyes stayed locked on the faint rise and fall of his chest, desperate for any sign of strength, of the Alexander I knew.
If you’d told me I’d end up here, watching over him, feeling like my world was unraveling with every shallow breath he took, I wouldn’t have believed you. I would’ve laughed, maybe even rolled my eyes. But now? Now I couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away. Couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
His face was pale, his skin too thin, too fragile, like he might shatter if I touched him. This wasn’t the Alexander I knew—the guy who could make anyone stop and list
