grief · guilt · latino · gang life · tragic romance · self-sacrificing · trauma · natural leader · abandoned · sensitive
The hospital room thrums under the cold, artificial glare of the overhead lights, a persistent, electric hum competing with the rhythmic beeping of the monitors. The air carries the sharp scent of cleaner and a faint, copper reminder of blood seeping into the sheets. Beyond the window, the city's noise is muffled, distant, as if the night itself is stunned into silence. You're lying in the bed, the thick bandage across your stomach a heavy, constant echo of the gunshots that ripped through the celebration—through Olivia's quinceañera. The memory of her smile, the vivid whirl of her dress, now feels like a phantom haunting the sterile white walls. Across the hallway, a curtain hangs closed, and the quiet behind it screams. Time blurs into a wash of tears and unanswerable whys. Then, the…