Sally's POV
The narrow hallway outside the treatment room feels suffocating in its stillness. Harsh fluorescent lights flicker overhead, casting unforgiving shadows on the sterile walls. I barely make it halfway toward the exit before my knees buckle, and I collapse against the cold concrete wall, pressing my palms against my face.
Only now, in this crushing solitude, do the tears break free.
These aren't the desperate, choking sobs from before. Instead, they flow quietly, carrying away weeks of terror and uncertainty. I weep for everything I nearly lost tonight, for each precious moment I thought would be stolen from us forever. For the way Karl's pulse faltered beneath my trembling fingers, for the raw panic that consumed Philip, for the devastating helplessness that almost shattered my sanity.
"There you are."
