"How could this happen?" The words escaped Selena's lips in a broken whisper, each syllable heavy with disbelief. She sat hunched in the uncomfortable plastic chair beside the hospital bed, her amber eyes fixed on the motionless figure before her. The young man lying there looked so fragile, so utterly lifeless, with his pale blue hair fanned across the stark white pillow and his ashen eyes closed to the world. The private ward felt suffocating despite its spacious design, filled only with the steady beeping of monitors and the soft whoosh of the ventilator that kept him breathing.
Getting into this room hadn't been easy. Selena had spent hours wearing down the vice principal with relentless questions, desperate pleas, and thinly veiled threats until the man finally cracked under pressure. She'd pushed every boundary, called in every favor, and made herself such a persistent nuisance that he'd eventually thrown up his hands and granted her access just to make her go away.
