Lucas's words hung in the air.
"I wasn't running away from the accident..."
"I was running toward it."
No one spoke.
The underground archive, filled with decades of forgotten lives, suddenly felt much smaller.
Lily could hear nothing except Lucas's uneven breathing.
His face had gone pale.
A thin layer of sweat covered his forehead.
Another memory was trying to surface.
Another piece of a childhood someone had carefully buried.
Margaret slowly approached him.
"Lucas..."
Her voice was gentle.
"Don't force it."
He closed his eyes.
"I'm not."
His fingers pressed against his temples.
"It keeps coming back on its own."
Ethan pulled an old chair closer.
"Sit down."
Lucas obeyed without arguing.
For the first time since Lily had known him, he looked vulnerable.
Not like the
