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Melissa stood quietly beside Jackson, her elbows resting on the cold metal railing of the balcony. A cool breeze swept through the evening air, carrying with it the scent of rain-soaked earth and distant traffic. Below them, the city continued as though nothing was wrong. Couples walked hand in hand beneath umbrellas. Cars crawled through the wet streets, their headlights reflecting off the glistening asphalt. Somewhere nearby, a dog barked before everything settled back into the familiar rhythm of a normal evening. Jackson envied those people. He wondered what it felt like to wake up every morning without looking over your shoulder, without questioning every phone call, every stranger, every coincidence. His life had become one long series of calculations. If he went left instead of rig
- Writer
