Cringing against the bleak, plaster wall, I waited anxiously for my mother to appear from the opposing doorway. Bored nurses hurried by as I sat, whimpering quietly to myself. Awful, suppressing silence pounded in my ears, as if to mock my cowardice. “Pathetic,” it hissed, “too afraid to even go in by herself”. However much it tried, the serene façade could not mask the perpetual presence of death which lurked behind every corner. In the distance, a clock ticked continuously as infinite seconds