Cortland
The screams shatter the night's silence, catapulting me into consciousness. For a disorienting moment, I'm lost, my heart jackhammering against my ribs as I try to make sense of the pandemonium. Then the brutal truth slams into me: It's Austin. She's in the kind of agony that rips the soul right out of a person. Her cries tear through the house, a symphony of torment and raw desperation.
I'm out of bed in a flash, nearly face-planting as the sheets tangle around my legs. But I tear free, running to her as if my life depends on it. And what I see... God, it's seared into my memory forever. Austin's face is twisted into a mask of primal anguish. Her body contorts as another ruthless contraction seizes her. Her hands claw at the sheets, knuckles blazing white from the force of it.
