\u201cI\u2019ll ride with them,\u201d Ethan said before the thought had a chance to ask permission.<\/p>\n
The paramedic looked up, assessing. A thousand stories could be true in a city like this. \u201cYou family?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s answer was a soft collision between reflex and revelation. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said honestly, and something in the medic\u2019s face\u2014professional wariness plus the math of the twins\u2019 eyes\u2014softened into a nod.<\/p>\n
The ambulance\u2019s back doors closed on the city and all its noise. Inside, the world became white plastic, blue uniforms, the beeping of a machine monitoring a heart that was tired but stubborn. The twins\u2019 cries fell into hiccups. The boy\u2019s small hand found Ethan\u2019s sleeve and held on. The girl leaned against his knee, exhausted from crying.<\/p>\n
Ethan stared at the children and then at the space beyond their heads where his mind projected a future without asking. He saw two high chairs side by side. He saw a pile of laundry the size of a small car. He saw, with a strange vertigo, the complete absence of any of that in the life he\u2019d built.<\/p>\n
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