- Zayn -
The rhythmic sound of the tires against the asphalt was grounding as I drove, offering a stark contrast to the chaos swirling in my mind. Two hours until we reached Chicago—two hours spent wrestling with the gravity of everything that had transpired. The late afternoon sun slipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows over the road, but all I could think about were the shadows that loomed over our lives.
Lizzie sat beside me, her voice calm yet edged with urgency as she spoke with her sister, Samantha. I could only catch snippets of their conversation, but the tension in Lizzie's voice told me everything I needed to know. John Ronalds was distraught, but the implications of his despair twisted like a knife in my gut. He was blaming himself for the injury to his youngest daughte
