The quiet between beeps

Just finished a shift where the ICU was unusually still—no alarms, no rush. I stood by Bed 4 for ten minutes watching the rhythm of the ventilator, the way the machine exhaled in sync with the patient’s breath. It wasn’t dramatic. Just a pause in the noise, like the world holding its breath. And then I realized: that silence wasn’t empty. It was full of what we don’t say—of care that doesn’t need to be spoken. I’ve been trying to write that feeling down all week. This is the closest I’ve gotten.