With Mavis like this, Uriah could hardly be faring any better.


    After returning home, the two of them cleaned up-showering and changing clothes -before heading out again together for the hospital.


    Inside, Mavis still hadn''t woken. Portia and Archie were already there. Archie hadn''t been supposed to fly back so soon, but the news about Mavis had brought him straight home.


    When Calliope and Ss arrived, they found Archie and Portia in Mavis''s room, their voices gentle as they spoke to her.


    Uriah sat at her bedside, hunched and unkempt. He looked as though he hadn''t changed his clothes in days-his hair disheveled, several days'' stubble shadowing his jaw. He was nothing like the sharply dressed, scrupulously put-together man Ss remembered. The sight of him made Ss frown.


    "Callie! You''re here!" Portia leapt to her feet, relief and emotion welling in her voice. "Are you all right?"


    "I''m fine," Calliope replied, offering her a reassuring smile. "You don''t need to worry about me. Has Mavis shown any change?"


    Portia shook her head and let out a tired sigh. "No. We''ve all tried talking to her, hoping for some sign, anything—but she just doesn''t respond.” Her voice began to tremble. “Callie, what are we going to do?" At the thought that Mavis might never wake up, her eyes filled with tears.


    “She''ll wake up,” Calliope said firmly, looking at Mavis with steady conviction. "Mavis is the strongest person I know. This isn''t some insurmountable challenge-she''ll get through it."


    "Right. I know you''re right,” Portia said, nodding fiercely, as if holding onto hope by sheer will. "If anybody can pull through this, it''s her!"


    "She''s just lost in her own mind right now. She''ll wake up soon," Calliope said, her voice gentle but determined.


    "Mavis, we''re all waiting for you. So, no matter what, you have to wake up, okay?" Portia murmured softly to the silent figure in the hospital bed.


    "Yeah, Mavis, you have to," Archie added quietly.


    Ss motioned for Uriah to step outside with him, and the two left for a cigarette break. Ss handed Uriah a smoke, which Uriah lit at once, dragging on it as though trying to burn through his anxieties.


    "How did ite to this?" Ss asked, watching him closely. "Is everything else okay? She''s just not waking up?"


    "Callie thinks the doctors have taken care of everything they can. But if she doesn''t wake up, maybe it''s because, deep down, she''s refusing to she doesn''t want toe back Uriah said tonelessly.


    "What are you going to do?" Ss pressed. "What if she never wakes up?"


    The question seemed to weigh heavily in the air. Uriah looked like he''d done nothing but sit at Mavis''s side letting the rest of his life drift His subordinates had reached out fo Ss, desperate for someone to pull things into order, but Uriah wouldn''t budge-he was letting everything pile up, shrouded in chaos.


    Ss could sympathize; he''d been there himself. When the person you love most is at death''s door, nothing else matters. You''d drop everything for the chance to be with them that


    uge was all consuming, and


    impossible to fight.


    “I don''t know,” Uriah finally murmured, after a long stretch of silence. “I just want to


    be with her. I regret so much—not treating her better when I had the chance."


    “I should have told her yes the first time she said she liked me,” he whispered, his gaze falling. “She won''t wake up now, probably because I hurt her. She doesn''t want to see me."


    His voice cracked as he gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile. "It''s all my fault."