Why are dying people asking to hold hands?
Because they fear death, fear the unknown that lays ahead, fear to fall into oblivion, fear the abbyss of nothing, the perfect nowhere, the absolute zero of space and time
A dying person holds to that hand like a baby holds to a mother's hand wheh there're scared, like a drowning person holds to floating flinders; like this hand is a last thing connecting them to this world and a strength of this link depends on the strength of their grip