Officers cuffed Vivian as she shrieked.
Lena held Ethan’s hand. For the first time, she wasn’t hiding.
Outside, Marissa whispered, “She leaked the medical files. They’re calling you unfit.”
Ethan tightened his grip on the wheelchair.
“Then we prove them wrong.”
Chapter Four: The Keeper of the Light
Healing wasn’t fast.
It came in nightmares and midnight sprints down the hallway. In nightlights. In stories. In Ethan sitting by the bed until sleep came. Lena feared water. Still, she tried therapy. Ethan held her in the pool when panic struck. Didn’t let go. By the tenth session, she floated. One morning, she kicked.
“I felt it,” Lena gasped.
Ethan cried openly. Months later, her art exhibition filled a gallery. One painting showed a stormy sea—cut by a golden beam of light. A man holding a little girl’s hand.
“Sold,” someone said.
Then Lena did something no one expected.
She stood.
Not steady. Not long. But standing.
Applause thundered.
“I’m tall,” she laughed.
Ethan held her, shaking.
Epilogue: Home
A year later, the house was warm again. Lena moved through the garden with purple crutches. She placed a sunflower on her mother’s stone.
“Happy birthday,” she whispered.
Ethan took her hand.