Alex's footsteps echoed in the empty hospital corridor as he walked toward the family rooms they'd been assigned.
Each step felt heavier than the last, as if gravity itself was pressing down on him with the weight of impossible choice.
The silence was absolute.
He pushed open the door to their small assigned bedroom and stepped inside. The space felt suffocating... three narrow beds, a small table, institutional walls that seemed to close in around him.
He sat on the edge of the bed, his hands clasped between his knees, staring at nothing.
His mind was a hurricane of thoughts, each one crashing into the next with brutal force.
Complete system disintegration.
The words echoed in his mind like a death sentence. Everything he'd become, everything he'd built, everyone who depended on his strength... all of it would be stripped away in three days.
Can I handle that? Alex asked himself, and the answer came with brutal honesty. No. Definitely not.
