"Will you please stop? Just give me my phone."
"No! Your father is sick! At a time like this, you should not be looking at your phone but praying for his well-being. Stay here with me, in this prayer room."
Lily's shoulders tensed as she sat back down on the narrow, uncomfortable bench in the hospital chapel. The air was heavy with the scent of incense, making it hard to breathe but it was her mother that made things even more difficult for her. Her mother's voice had taken on an almost frantic edge, more urgent than ever before, as if the intensity of her devotion alone could somehow heal the man lying unconscious just a few floors away.
