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God always gives you what you need.

What do I need right now? I search around the street, my gaze going from the muddy snowdrifts to the tall residential buildings.

What do I need right now?

Breathe. Breathe. Let the cold air shock, let it hurt.

What do I need?

I lock every muscle and slide my eyes closed, and tune out the sound of the city.

Air, blood, soul—it’s all here in my body. I’m here. I’m alive.

I will continue living.

My phone buzzes again, and this time it’s my calendar.

Another reminder.

There are twenty-four hours until the acceptance deadline.

What do I want?

I flip the screen and open the text editor. Without a single moment of hesitation, I type my response and shove my phone in my pocket, choosing to walk a few blocks to clear my head.

I have everything ahead of me, and my life is going to be good. Amazing.

But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that however it comes out, the Shae that loved Storm Sandoval is dead. And that girl is never coming back.