The sterile, fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor hummed with a low, incessant vibration that seemed to match the frantic beating of my heart. The smell of industrial bleach and rubbing alcohol coated the back of my throat. I stood just outside the sliding glass doors of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, my hands clamped tightly over my mouth, my entire body shaking with the shock of the last three hours.My eight-year-old daughter, Emma, was lying in a hospital bed a few feet away. She was hooked up to a terrifying array of monitors, her left arm encased in a heavy cast, a bandage wrapping her forehead where they had stitched a deep laceration.
She had been walking home from her bus stop, exactly three blocks from our quiet suburban house, when a car blew through a stop sign, clipped her violently, throwing her onto the pavement, and sped away without ever hitting the brakes. The trauma surgeon said she was incredibly lucky; the heavy canvas of her backpack had absorbed the brunt of the impact, saving her spine. She was currently unconscious, heavily sedated to manage the pain.
I was waiting for my husband, Daniel. I had left him three frantic voicemails. He was an accountant at a downtown firm, a man who prided himself on his predictability. He always wore a grey suit. He always left at 7:30 AM. He always promised to be home by 6:00 PM for dinner.
“Mrs. Sarah Evans?”
