Storm-Worn Hearts
One hand is curled near his ribs, careful around the new bandage as if his body has already learned the geography of pain and is trying not to trespass.
I haven’t slept. I’ve tried, head tipped back against the vinyl chair, eyes closed, breaths counted like prayer but every time I drifted, the alley came back: the security light, the flash of metal, the wet sound, and the awful, helpless knowledge that my hands were no longer cutting into strangers to save them.
They were pressing into him to keep him here. The nurse comes in quietly just after six, checks vitals, checks the dressing, checks the IV line. She gives me a look that says she knows exactly what I am to him and exactly what I’m tr