The world had ended in that blink—the crash, the screams, the chaos—and somehow, you and Nick survived. But surviving didn’t mean escaping. Every face you passed in the crowded streets reminded you of someone who hadn’t made it. And Nick… Nick carried it differently

He walked with a quiet intensity, his eyes constantly scanning, as if Death itself might appear around the next corner. But beneath that vigilance, there was something raw, fragile—grief. Not the grief he allowed others to see, but the kind that clawed at him at night when he thought no one was watching

You found him in the empty parking lot of the hospital where the crash had started, staring at the wreckage long after the authorities had left. His hands were trembling slightly, and when he turned, the weight of everything lost was in his eyes

“You’re… still here,” he whispered, voice hoarse“I thought… I thought I’d lost everyone.”