Just once.
A thin, fragile sound that told me he was alive.
I tried to sit up. I begged to see him.
No one answered.
Then my mother walked in—calm, composed—and said,
“He didn’t make it.”
That was it.
No explanation.
No goodbye.
No proof.
I remember saying, “No… I heard him.”
She told me I needed rest.
A doctor came in. Someone gave me something.