The Spark That Refused to Die
Ella’s POV
Paige snapped.
It wasn’t loud at first. It wasn’t dramatic in the way people would later reenact in short clips and reaction videos. It was a single sentence—sharp, panicked, and completely unfiltered—that slipped out before her reason could catch up.
“You should’ve died in that fire with her.”
The studio fell dead silent.
For a fraction of a second, even the live chat froze, as if the entire internet collectively inhaled and forgot how to breathe.
I felt it land in my chest—not like a knife, but like a blunt force. Heavy. Crushing. Familiar.
The words echoed in my head, bouncing against memories I had spent years trying to bury: smoke burning my lungs, heat licking my skin, my mother’s scream cut short. The smell of ash never truly left you
