The first nurse asked me another question.
“Do you want them to leave?”
It should have been easy.
It was not.
My body hurt.
My head was heavy.
My mother was looking at me with that warning in her eyes, the one that said I was about to make this bigger than it needed to be.
Tessa mouthed something I could not hear.
Probably don’t.
Probably stop.
Probably some version of the old rule.
But the monitor beeped beside me.
The nurse held the chart.
The charge nurse waited.
For once, the room did not belong entirely to them.
I swallowed.
My voice came out rough and small.
“Yes.”
One word.
It sounded weak.
It changed everything.
My mother stared at me.
Tessa’s mouth fell open.
The charge nurse nodded once.
“Ma’am,” she said to my mother, “both of you need to step out.”
“You’re choosing this?” my mother asked.
