The Daughter Returns

The staff party was a dull throb, a familiar exhaustion settling deep in my bones.

Then Sabrina Chavez held out the brownie, her eyes wide and innocent, just like before.

But I remembered the last time.

Taking that brownie led to my throat closing, my lungs burning, and a severe anaphylactic shock.

I was dying on the floor, gasping for air, while my boyfriend, Ethan, comforted Sabrina, who claimed it was just cross-contamination.

He called me "dramatic" at my hospital bed.

That "accident" cost me my promotion, gave me lifelong respiratory damage, and shattered my relationship.