Chapter 142 Holding On You

• Hailey***
• I locked my gaze onto the clock, the incessant ticking echoing through the sterile room. The silence around me felt suffocating, and each breath I took seemed too shallow, too fragile. The only sound that tethered me to this harsh reality was the rhythmic tick-tick-tick of the clock on the wall, cold and methodical. Every passing second felt like a thief, stealing precious moments from me. Would he survive the night? The thought gnawed at me, sharp and relentless, threatening to sever the fragile thread of hope I had left.
• It had been nearly 22 hours since Hollis had been rushed in. The doctor had warned me—24 hours. If he didn’t wake up by then, the consequences could be irreversible. My gaze flickered back to him, still lying motionless, his face pale and drawn, chest rising and falling in slow, labored rhythm. I squeezed his hand, trying to give him my warmth, as if my touch could somehow pull him back from the brink. But I was powerless. Powerless to stop the clock, powerless to halt the cold that had begun creeping through his body.