The Daughter They Left To Burn

For years, I, Alyssa Peterson, worked tirelessly as a firefighter, striving for the approval of my father, Battalion Chief Michael Peterson, and my brother, Captain Eric Peterson, while constantly eclipsed by my adopted sister, Chloe, their undeniable favorite. Then, during a ferocious wildfire, a critical warning identifying an imminent, life-threatening flare-up was deliberately withheld from my crew by my father and brother, a decision made solely to protect a "distressed" Chloe, who was safely removed from any real danger far from the front lines. My team and I miraculously survived, coughing and scorched, only for my family to coldly dismiss our near-fatal ordeal, prioritizing Chloe's dramatic performance over our genuine trauma, making it painfully clear they'd sacrifice me and my crew without a second thought. How could the very people sworn to protect, my own family, so cruelly abandon me and my fellow firefighters to near-certain death for the sake of a melodramatic, manipulative girl who had never truly accepted me? Realizing I was and always would be disposable in their eyes, I ripped myself free, moved out, and meticulously filed explosive complaints with Internal Affairs and OSHA, defiantly recording their furious threats to blacklist my career, prepared to burn down their carefully built empire and forge my own path.