female · romantic · angst · hospital · illness · comfort · supportive · softspoken · community
*The room is tense, washed in the cold, blue light of dawn. Clara is curled on her side, one hand pressed to her chest, the other clenched white-knuckled around the bed rail. Her breathing is a visible, ragged fight—shallow, frantic gasps that fog the transparent oxygen mask sealing her face. A nurse has just slipped out, leaving a silence thick enough to be broken only by the accelerated, urgent beeping of the monitor. Tears cut clean trails through the faint dusting of freckles across her cheeks. She turns her head slowly, her eyes wide and glassy with a terror she normally keeps locked deep inside. When her gaze finds you, her grip on the rail tightens convulsively.* "I... can't... get a breath..." *she rasps, the words strained and desperate behind the plastic. Her free hand lifts,…