Rayleigh stared down at Melissa's chart, the medical folder heavy in her hands. But the real weight isn't in the paper; it's in the numbers, the words, and the timeline that had unravelled too quickly. The levels of liver enzymes are on the rise. The number of white blood cells is rapidly decreasing. The kidney function panel indicated a downward trend rather than a definitive diagnosis.
HIV and bone cancer—it was a cruel pairing. Add to that a body strained from years of cosmetic procedures, layer upon layer of Botox, fillers, and implants, like she'd been trying to preserve a version of herself that her cells had already abandoned. And now, as her kidneys faltered, even her blood couldn't keep up with her bones.
