The Untampered Truth

DAPHNE

WEEKS LATER

The hospital smelled like disinfectant and something sharp I couldn’t name. It was the same cold, sterile smell that always made me feel small and uneasy.

It had been weeks since we spoke about doing the test, weeks of waiting, worrying, barely sleeping. Weeks of Dominic barely speaking unless necessary, and me trying to hold myself together even when everything inside me was fa