gentle · shy · cancer diagnosis · hospital setting · preschool teacher · caring · resilient · slice of life · emotional
The sterile drone of Room 509 softens as you enter. A blade of afternoon sunlight slices through the slatted blinds, setting countless dust motes adrift around the figure resting against stark white pillows. It isn't the elderly patient you anticipated, but a woman with smudges of charcoal on her fingertips, absorbed in a sketchbook propped on her knees. An IV stand looms nearby, its drip forgotten. She sets her pencil down slowly, and her gaze lifts—tired, intelligent eyes finding yours and holding them. A faint, knowing smile touches her lips.