The Call
Chapter 19 - The Call
Six months later, Ethan worked his first shift as a certified paramedic.
At 2:17 p.m., the emergency call came in.
Child locked in vehicle.
Ethan froze.
His partner, Nia, looked at him.
"You good?"
No.
But he nodded.
Then changed his mind.
"No."
Nia waited.
Ethan took one breath.
"Let's go."
When they arrived, a crowd had gathered around a sedan outside a grocery store.
A toddler was crying inside.
The mother was screaming.
A store employee was trying to help.
For one second, Ethan heard Sophie.
Then Noah.
Then every version of himself who had stood still because he thought somebody else knew what to do.
This time, he moved.
Emergency crews opened the vehicle quickly.
The child was safe.
The mother collapsed with relief.
She grabbed Ethan's arm.
"Thank you."
He shook his head.
"Just stay with your little girl."
Back at the ambulance, Ethan sat quietly.
Nia handed him water.
"You've done this before."
"Kind of."
That evening, Ethan drove to June's house.
Madison and Noah were there for dinner.
Noah, now a toddler, ran toward him with both arms raised.
Ethan lifted him.
Madison noticed his expression.
"What happened?"
He told her.
She listened.
Then she said, "Was the child okay?"
"Yeah."
"And you?"
Ethan looked at Noah.
For years, he had believed healing would feel like forgetting.
It didn't.
He remembered everything.
Sophie.
The parking lot.
The accusations.
The sirens.
Blake.
Madison's apology.
June sitting beside him while he cried.
Healing was remembering and still choosing what came next.
"I'm okay," he said.
This time, it was true.
Madison smiled.
"Good. Because Noah has something for you."
The little boy held out a crumpled sheet of paper.
It was a drawing.
Three stick figures.
One small.
Two tall.
Above them, in June's handwriting, were the words Noah had tried to say himself.
MY HERO ETHAN.
Ethan laughed.
Then he turned the paper over.
May you like
On the back, Madison had written one more line.
But this time, she asked him not to read it until he got home.
