“The circle of life must go on. With every life lost a new one is born.” I murmur under my breath as this saying keeps rolling around in my head over and over.

Looking over at my mom, I feel a little bit better knowing that she has been sleeping comfortably in her hospital bed for a couple of hours. As I scan the room, the stark white walls are almost too much for me and the headache I have been nursing. “It looks like someone forgot to clean up the blood on the floor.” I say softly so I don’t wake her up.

“That must have been left over...