Her Choice, My Freedom

Her Choice, My Freedom

Xi Yue

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The last thing I remembered from that life was the metallic taste of blood. Mark' s fists felt like concrete blocks, crushing my ribs with every blow. Through the haze of pain, I saw Sarah by the warehouse door, holding her son. She watched me die, her beautiful face blank, her eyes cold and empty. She had chosen him, the gangster, the man now beating me to death, over me. After twenty years of trying to save her, sacrificing everything, her betrayal was the final, most painful blow. Then, nothing, until a phone started ringing. I snapped awake in my childhood bedroom not aching, not broken. My old flip phone flashed a familiar name: Sarah' s Mom. I knew this call. This was the night Sarah got into trouble with Mark. The night her parents begged me to use my college savings to bail her out. Last time, I' d said yes, draining my account and giving up my dream school. This time, I took a steadying breath. "No." The line went silent. "What? Alex, what do you mean, no? This is Sarah we' re talking about." "She made her choices. She needs to face the consequences. I' m not getting involved." A weight I didn' t know I was carrying for two decades lifted. "I have my own life to think about. I' m sorry." I hung up, staring at my unbroken hands, the hands of an eighteen-year-old with a future I was taking back.

Introduction

The last thing I remembered from that life was the metallic taste of blood.

Mark' s fists felt like concrete blocks, crushing my ribs with every blow.

Through the haze of pain, I saw Sarah by the warehouse door, holding her son.

She watched me die, her beautiful face blank, her eyes cold and empty.

She had chosen him, the gangster, the man now beating me to death, over me.

After twenty years of trying to save her, sacrificing everything, her betrayal was the final, most painful blow.

Then, nothing, until a phone started ringing.

I snapped awake in my childhood bedroom not aching, not broken.

My old flip phone flashed a familiar name: Sarah' s Mom.

I knew this call. This was the night Sarah got into trouble with Mark.

The night her parents begged me to use my college savings to bail her out.

Last time, I' d said yes, draining my account and giving up my dream school.

This time, I took a steadying breath.

"No."

The line went silent.

"What? Alex, what do you mean, no? This is Sarah we' re talking about."

"She made her choices. She needs to face the consequences. I' m not getting involved."

A weight I didn' t know I was carrying for two decades lifted.

"I have my own life to think about. I' m sorry."

I hung up, staring at my unbroken hands, the hands of an eighteen-year-old with a future I was taking back.

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