The Truth They Left Behind

inor cut now professionally bandaged, a firefighter approached my

f confusion on her face. "No, that'

so accustomed to. "She had the energy to pull us out, she's probably

e sweeping over the wreckage without truly s

ture is highly unstable. We need to do a fu

ack to Sabrina, who was putting on a brave face for the paramed

il. I had been awake, tracking the hurricane's

ifting frame of the house. I had smashed a window in the kitchen with a cast-iron skillet, cutting my ar

I began to dig, not with the blades, but with the thick metal handles, prying at splintered wood and broken drywall, creati

her free, his first words to me were a venomous accusation. "You saved your

. "We need to dig for Sabrina." Despite my exhaustion and the seari

ed, hearing the strain in the support beams. "W

e, hard. "You just want her to die, don't y

I landed hard on a jagged piece of rebar protruding from a shattered concrete support. A whi

t my voice was