The Boy Who Appeared Out of Nowhere
It was a quiet evening at St. Mercy Hospital. The sun had set, leaving the hallways painted in the pale glow of fluorescent lights. Nurses moved briskly between rooms, doctors finished their rounds, and the rhythm of beeping monitors filled the air like a strange kind of heartbeat.
Then, without warning, the automatic doors of the emergency ward slid open — and a boy walked in.
He couldn’t have been more than nine or ten years old. His clothes hung off him like hand-me-downs several sizes too large. His shoes were worn thin. His small face was pale, his lips trembling from pain or fear — or both.
