"I can't lose Jackson, I can't..."
The sentence echoed in her mind like a plea, but also like a curse. The world around her seemed to collapse. Her ears rang, and the screams, the fire truck sirens, everything became only a faint, blurred sound in the air.
Emma's heart felt as though it were being squeezed tight, every beat painful and chaotic. Everything seemed to spin around her, her vision blurred by tears. She blamed herself, blaming herself for not arriving sooner, for not realizing that Jackson needed her. If she had come earlier, if she had not wasted time, perhaps things would have been different. She tore herself apart with regret and pain, but nothing could change the truth before her eyes.
