A Second Chance, Fall In Love Again

“The sharp pain in my head was nothing compared to my stepsister Sarah' s screams. My fiancé, Liam, already by her side, shot me a look of pure accusation: "Chloe, what the hell did you do?" Sarah clutched her ankle, twisting her face in agony, then whispered, "She was just... upset that you were holding my hand." A gentle poison. Liam' s suspicion solidified into certainty, his eyes hardening with disgust as he scooped Sarah into his arms. "Her ankle looks broken. We can' t carry her and help you walk. You' ll have to wait here." He abandoned me in the middle of nowhere, my own leg throbbing, my head pounding, leaving me utterly alone with a profound, bottomless despair. In the hospital, Sarah and her doctor brother, Dr. Evans, casually manipulated Liam, fabricating a diagnosis of a mere bruise for my fractured leg, and suggesting I was "not well." Liam, blinded by guilt and Sarah' s lies, agreed. The man I loved was gone, replaced by an angry stranger who punished me for a pain he refused to see. He pushed my wheelchair, demanding an apology, completely ignoring the new, blinding agony ripping through my leg as it jolted. A dark discoloration rapidly spread from my knee, yet Dr. Evans dismissed it as "just the bruising settling." They were going to send me to a mental institution. I looked at Liam, then at the ring he tossed to the floor-our future, discarded. Something within me broke, a cool, clear voice whispering: Let go of this life. I can give you a new one. I shed my old self, my art, my love for Liam. I was Chloe no more. As I finally walked onto the hospital rooftop, Liam' s scream cut through the air. He lunged, a desperate, impossible attempt to save me, only to fall with me.”