My Name Is Nily

I thought she had brought us to the wrong room. The profile of the man lying on the bed was not my dad's. Nastaran stood frozen. Mom pushed her on forward. I was just looking at them both. Half of the man's face was bruised. Dried-up bloodstains were all over his neck and down from his head. You could not see the rest of his body as it was covered under the sheets. I gripped Nastaran's hand.
"He is asleep; do you want to wake him up?"
"Shut up."
The man's face was shaved, and there were tubes in his mouth and nose. This man was not my father. Nastaran cried nonstop. I could hear Mom's breathing and her cries too. I felt so sorry for this man. Nastaran put her head on the sheet covering the man's hands and continued her crying. I was like a wooden stick standing next to him and looking. All the hospital equipment seemed scarier than the dead man's face. His skin was as white as a ghost, and his cheekbones were standing out. With puffed eyes and a half-open mouth, he was asleep and was snoring like a baby.