Julian woke to the hum of a monitor and a light that was too white.His mouth tasted of metal. There was a line taped to the back of his hand, a dull ache in his hip where the biopsy needle had gone in, and a ceiling tile above him with a water stain shaped like a bird. He lay still and let the room assemble itself.Then he saw the coat.It hung at the foot of his bed, a white lab coat with a pen clipped to the pocket, a tablet held in a steady hand. Above the pocket, in blue thread, was a name.Dr. Nora Vale.He read it twice. He thought, for a moment, that the sedation was still doing something to his eyes."Mr. Hale." The voice was calm and even. "You're awake. Good. Don't try to sit up yet."I had practiced this moment, in a way. For the eleven hours since his transfer papers crossed my desk, I had told myself it would be a patient, a chart, a set of numbers. I had told myself it would not be a man I once
최신 업데이트 : 2026-10-29
