The hospital room felt smaller with every passing minute. The steady *beep… beep… beep* from Aeri's heart monitor was the only real sound besides my own breathing. I was still holding her hand, thumb moving slowly back and forth across her knuckles, when the phone buzzed again in my lap.
I glanced at the screen. Jonathan.
I hit answer and brought it to my ear.
"Hello fucker!" Jonathan's voice burst through the speaker—loud, bright, full of that same dumb energy he always had. Completely clueless about the mess I was sitting in.
"Jonathan…" I said softly, almost too quiet.
"Obviously who else would it be?" he shot back. I could picture him raising one eyebrow, smirking to himself like he always did when he thought he'd caught me off guard.
"Yeah. I mean—hello," I said, clearing my throat. I sounded rough even to my own ears. I coughed once, trying to shake it off.
