Chapter 2

As the paramedics carefully loaded Sabrina onto a stretcher, her minor cut now professionally bandaged, a firefighter approached my mother and brother. "Ma'am, sir, is there anyone else in the house?"

Jennifer looked around, a flicker of confusion on her face. "No, that's everyone... wait. Where's Nicole?"

Matthew scoffed, his voice dripping with the casual cruelty I'd grown so accustomed to. "She had the energy to pull us out, she's probably just hiding somewhere to make us worry. She' s always been dramatic."

"She was right here," Jennifer said, her gaze sweeping over the wreckage without truly seeing it. "She'll turn up. She always does."

The firefighter's face was grim. "The structure is highly unstable. We need to do a full search. Did you see which way she went?"

They both shook their heads, their attention already drifting back to Sabrina, who was putting on a brave face for the paramedics. The reality was so much worse than their casual dismissal.

I hadn't been asleep when the house began to fail. I had been awake, tracking the hurricane's peak, my heart pounding with every gust of wind.

When the first structural groans started, I knew we had to get out. The doors were jammed shut by the shifting frame of the house. I had smashed a window in the kitchen with a cast-iron skillet, cutting my arm on the glass, and climbed out just as the main section of the house began its slow, grinding collapse.

Seeing my family trapped inside, I didn't hesitate. I ran to the garden shed, grabbing a pair of heavy-duty garden shears. I began to dig, not with the blades, but with the thick metal handles, prying at splintered wood and broken drywall, creating a tunnel through the debris. The work shredded my hands, tearing the skin from my palms and knuckles, but I didn't stop.

I reached them just as Matthew was waking up. After I pulled him and my mother free, his first words to me were a venomous accusation. "You saved yourself first, didn't you? You were probably already outside when it happened."

Ignoring him, I pointed to the spot where I knew Sabrina's room was. "We need to dig for Sabrina." Despite my exhaustion and the searing pain in my hands, I started pulling at the debris alongside them.

"The whole thing is going to come down," I gasped, hearing the strain in the support beams. "We need to get back and wait for professionals."

Matthew's face twisted in rage. He shoved me, hard. "You just want her to die, don't you? You want to be the only daughter again!"

The shove sent me stumbling backward. My foot slipped on a wet piece of flooring, and I fell. I landed hard on a jagged piece of rebar protruding from a shattered concrete support. A white-hot, sickening pain shot through my abdomen. I felt the metal tear through muscle and flesh.

I cried out, but my voice was lost in the wind.