The wind rushed through Sarah’s hair, a fiery halo of auburn tentacles. Her breath was gone, the blast of air forcing itself into her mouth and lungs, pushing away any sound she cared to try and utter. The cold spread from fingertips to toes, to her heart as it struggled to determine the current tempo of the situation. The adrenaline rush wasn’t adding to the nausea now, but was providing unexpected calm around and through her.

There was no time to dwell on such physical trivialities right now, this was a time for inner reflection, a moment of spiritual redemption. Time was short. Thoughts of her father, his strong arms around her and kind words kissing her brow flooded her mind. Her mother too, strong and determined, pushing her ever forwards. She so wished for her daughter to be greater than she’d ever felt the right or need to be. They had loved her. They had not deserved all she had committed against them these twenty two years.

She thought of Jason, the one who had also loved and yet forsaken her. The softening force who ultimately delivered the hardest blows to her beaten spirit. The driver of the rage within that summoned the demon with the force to destroy it all. Her hatred turning inwards and funneling into the destructive self pity and loathing of the fallen.

It arrived much more quickly than she had ever expected, had ever imagined it could. The cold, brutal, solid finality of the street.