Isabella Hawthorne
My steps echoed in the sterile hallway, a nervous tap-tap against the polished floor. The silence was deafening, broken only by the frantic drumbeat of my own heart. Glancing around, I felt the weight of every gaze, nurses, guards, even the sterile walls themselves seemingly observing me with an unnerving intensity.
"Why won't you just tell me?" I finally blurted out to the nurse, my voice barely above a whisper.
She cast me a sympathetic look, her lips pursed. "I'm not allowed, Miss Hawthorne," she said gently. "Dr. Pierce feels it's best you hear it directly from her."
Her words didn't quell the anxiety gnawing at my insides. Distracted, if anything afraid, I stumbled slightly, my daze interrupted by the nurse's soft, "Miss Hawthorne? Are you alright?"
A blush cre
