The Truth They Left Behind

ht, dark space where I lay. I tried to call out

rinkling his nose. He glanced in my d

heard Sabrina'

er screamed, her

cally, their bare hands tearing at the same debris I had tunneled t

hts, I summoned the last of my strength. I was barely conscious, my vision swimming in black spots from the blood

, she hesitated. I saw her look down at my han

, his arm protectively around

leaving me alone in the suffocating darkness

ful aftershock. The groaning of the house stopped, replaced by a final, horrific roar. The r

e was only

slab that had crushed my chest. One of the veteran firefighters, a man with tired eyes, knelt bes

tner. "Look at her hands. She m

Sabrina. When the coroner's van arrived, they were forced to look. J

oman, delivered the news th

t killed her," she stated, her

lower abdomen. Based on the blood pooling and tissue damage, she sustained the injury a significant a

mes, and he had been in transit for nearly twenty-four hours, frantic with worry. He stepped out of

my death, his devastation turned into a cold, terrifying rage. He wal

he asked, his voice