October 14, 2025
The drive to Seattle Children’s Hospital passed in a blur of rain-slicked streets and frantic, racing thoughts. Elias’s mind was a chaotic storm, caught between the sharp fear for Kris and a burning resentment toward Sloane’s disappearance. How could she just vanish when they needed her most?
When they finally pulled up, the hospital’s sterile, bustling energy felt both intimidating and like a sanctuary. Doctors and staff moved with a practiced, rhythmic urgency, navigating the endless stream of emergencies the city breathed out. Elias hurried inside, carrying Kris in his arms, while Leo gripped his jacket hem so tightly his knuckles were white.
A triage nurse caught Elias’s eye and immediately saw the desperation there. Her expression shifted from professional focus to soft empathy as she looked at Kris’s pale, listless form. Within minutes, a medical team was ushering them into a private room, their movements a blur of clinical efficiency. Elias knelt down until he was eye-level with his son, keeping his voice as steady as a heartbeat.
“Look at me, Leo. They’ve got her now. Kris is exactly where she needs to be.”
Leo nodded, his small face etched with a gravity no child should have to carry.
While the doctors worked on Kris, Elias stepped into the hallway to call Sloane again. Every unanswered ring felt like a personal insult. Just as he was prepared to give up and leave a scathing voicemail, his phone buzzed with a message from an unrecognized number.
“Elias, please don’t be angry. I’m not at the retreat. I’m getting real help this time. I couldn’t find the words to tell you. I’m at a residential treatment center. I am so, so sorry.”
The revelation hit him with the force of a physical impact, stealing the air from his lungs.
Sloane wasn’t just “away”—she was fighting a battle he hadn’t fully realized was this dire. She had left their children in a moment of crisis to save herself, a choice that left Elias reeling. It was a dizzying cocktail of emotions: a thin sliver of relief that she was alive and safe, clashing with a deep, hollow concern for what this meant for Leo and Kris’s world.
Elias knew he couldn’t do this alone. He reached out to his older sister, Clara, his voice finally cracking as he explained the situation.
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