|Katherine|
It hit me like déjà vu—the kind that twists your stomach and claws at your chest—when Noel’s name flashed across my phone screen. The urgency in his voice, the tremor that made every word quiver, sent a familiar chill racing down my spine. He was telling me about Grandpa’s condition, and instantly, a wave of panic rose up, uninvited and unrelenting.
I froze for a moment, memories crashing back in vivid fragments: the same fear that had consumed me months ago, the fear that hollowed me out the first time I had answered his call. Back then, I had run home in a blur of dread, only to find Grandpa teetering on the fragile edge between life and death. The sight had haunted me, a reminder of how precarious everything could be, how quickly the world could tip upside down.
But this
