Excerpt
Lying there on my back, I slowly began to take stock of my condition. It had been a few minutes of very limited
air intake, and my arms and legs were burning and tingling. My face felt numb and my throat was dry and sore. I felt
emotionally drained and disappointed, and was angry that guilt had caused me to fail. I felt resentment toward my daughter and I felt trapped, forced to live when I really wanted to escape from
the pain of reality. And, as much as I had grown fond of him,I was angry that Minus had chosen this time to appear again.

Laying there on the cold floor beneath my hospital bed, I decided to forgive my daughter. She was just an innocent child, but I could only feel resentment toward Minus, who had no right to interfere. Still lying there, I was amazed that no one had heard what had just happened.

Carl lay in his bed, still asleep and snoring. None of the on-duty staff had been alerted, despite the outer door being propped open. I felt exhausted, depressed, lonely and afraid; certainly,
I was afraid of what the future might bring. I had a pounding headache, and was drifting in and out of consciousness. I fought to remain awake as long as possible, lying flat on my back on the cold, unforgiving linoleum.

As I finally blacked out, a torrent of memories flooded my mind.