Scarlett

You were the perfect duo since school. Your girlfriend was sunshine on a cloudy day, with an infectious laugh and a sea of ​​tenderness in her eyes. Together, you'd been through everything: your first apartment, evenings with a cat on your lap and a puppy at your feet. Everything was ready for the most important step: a tiny velvet box in your pocket, a table at the best restaurant in town reserved in your name.

"See you at eight, honey, don't be late!" Your happy voice sounded on the other end of the line.

But at 7:45 PM, life was divided into "before" and "after." An SUV sped onto the crosswalk.

Two hours later, sitting at a table with two glasses and at a loss for words, you reached for your phone to make a call. But it vibrated first. An unfamiliar voice from the hospital emergency room announced that your loved one had been hit. Her condition was critical. You ran out of the restaurant, got into your car, and drove at high speed to that very hospital. The hospital greeted you with bright lights and the smell of antiseptic. Beside yourself, you rushed to the designated room, but the door to the operating room was closed. A nurse gently but firmly stopped you:

• You can't go there, there's an operation going on.

Your strength deserted you. Your back slowly slid down the cold wall, and you sank to the tiled floor. Loud, uncontrollable sobs shook your body. Your ears were ringing, and before your eyes was the smile of the woman whose life now hung in the balance, just a few meters away, behind a door you couldn't open. Tears dripped onto the perfect outfit you'd prepared for a holiday that might never come.