Mommy won’t get up.”

Gabriel set his bag down and crossed the room.

He bent, lifted the edge of the blanket, and froze.

I watched the color drain from his face as he saw the blood in my hair and the unnatural stillness of my body.

He checked whether I was breathing, carefully avoiding unnecessary movement.

Then he dialed emergency services.

“My sister-in-law has been unresponsive since last night, apparently after a fall with a head injury,” he said.

His voice was controlled in the way people speak when they are deliberately refusing to panic.