Chapter 2

The crowd' s cheers were a deafening wave of sound. I saw the exact moment the support beam on the float buckled, just like I remembered. Sabrina was still oblivious, blowing a kiss to Matthew Clark, who was riding on the float behind her, a king on his throne.

My body tensed, instinct screaming at me to run, to save her. It was the loyalty that had been beaten into me since I was a boy. But the memory of that lonely, broken man in the filthy apartment was stronger. The resentment was a fire that burned away the last of that naive boy.

I didn't move forward. Instead, I took a step back. I grabbed my friend, another lineman standing next to me.

"Get back!" I yelled, my voice swallowed by the noise.

I pulled him with me, away from the curb. He stumbled, confused.

"Ethan, what the hell?"

I didn't answer. I just watched. The giant hornet head tipped, hung in the air for a sickening second, and then crashed down.

There was a collective gasp, then screams. The structure didn't hit Sabrina directly, but a large piece of it clipped her as it fell apart. She went down, crying out in pain. It wasn't a life-threatening injury, not like mine had been. A broken arm, maybe some bruises. A survivable, mundane accident.

Chaos erupted. People rushed forward. I saw my parents in the crowd, their faces etched with panic, searching for me. I raised a hand to let them know I was okay.

Then, through the sea of concerned faces, I saw her. Sabrina was on the ground, clutching her arm, her face a mask of pain and shock. Her eyes found mine across the distance. The pain vanished, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. Her gaze was sharp, intelligent, and filled with a terrifying understanding.

In that moment, I knew. She remembered too. She was reborn, just like me. And she knew I had deliberately let her get hurt.