Chapter 2

Darkness. Then, a strange lightness.

I was… floating?

The pain was gone. The smoke, the heat, all vanished.

I looked down.

My body was still there, amidst the burning debris of the rehab room.

Small. Charred.

But I wasn' t in it.

I remembered being Captain Sarah Miller. Decorated. Respected.

I remembered leading my SWAT team into impossible situations, always bringing them back.

Brave, they called me. A leader.

My city gave me awards. My officers, their loyalty.

I remembered the bank hostage crisis.

Gunfire, screams, the acrid smell of gunpowder.

Mark, my partner then, pinned down, a clear shot for the last gunman.

I didn' t think. I moved.

Pushed him clear, took the bullets meant for him.

They ripped through my spine.

The world went black then too, for a while.

When I woke up, the doctors told me. "Paralyzed. Waist down. You' ll never walk again."

Mark was there. His face etched with guilt, with a strange kind of awe.

He' d been promoted to Captain. My old post.

He sat by my bedside for weeks.

"I owe you my life, Sarah," he' d said, his voice thick.

"I' ll take care of you. Always. I swear it."

He proposed a month later.

A quiet ceremony.

He vowed to protect me, to cherish me, for life.

His gratitude felt heavy, like a debt he could never repay.

But I loved him. Or I thought I did.

I believed his vow.

Now, watching my own funeral pyre, his words echoed.

"Protect you for life."

Lies. All lies.