If he was being honest with himself, Marc was angry at Hailey for abandoning him. He knew it was selfish, and she could have been abducted entirely against her will, but he couldn’t help himself. Hailey was the love of his life, and she was gone, whether by her own volition or not. Marc was alone, heartbroken, anxious, and taking care of a young child in a disciplinary way he had never really had to before. He had certainly not prepared for such a circumstance, and was entirely unequipped to handle it. Luckily, Lacey had stepped up to help him, but he was still fragile and lost. ⧫ Marc left for work the same way he left for work every other day of his life. He’d kissed Lacey goodbye, waving at his daughter and stepdaughters, and stepped out the door, his travel mug of coffee in one hand. He’d started his car, opened the garage door, drove slowly through the neighborhood, rolling through the stop signs, until he reached the highway, when he sped up to match the speed of traffic. He’d sipped his coffee and thought about the day prior. It was a good day. He had closed out a client’s case and they had been awarded a hefty sum, a sizable portion of which belonged to Marc as compensation. Although there had been setbacks, Marc’s life was finally back on track. Marc still thought about Hailey often. She was his first wife, and he had loved her dearly, and still missed her, but he had married Lacey and his second marriage was progressing. Lacey liked to spend money more than Hailey ever had, and Marc hadn’t exactly planned to adopt two additional daughters, but he was initially enthusiastic about the situation. Lacey had supported him when Hailey died; she had commiserated with him, and upheld him when he was falling through the deepest depths of despair. Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken long for the spark to fade, and Marc had come to realize, after the pain from the suddenness of Hailey’s disappearance had begun to subside, that he had married Lacey out of convenience, and they didn’t actually have much in common at all. He had decided to continue trying, not wanting to give up on a marriage so soon after its inception, but he could not deny that things were quickly turning south. It wasn’t until Marc tried to decelerate that he realized something was wrong. At first, he thought perhaps the brakes had slightly stuck. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, as the car was only a couple years old, but Marc told himself that was the problem regardless. Pushing down anxiety, Marc slowly pushed down on the brakes. They went down much faster than they should have, hitting the floor before he knew what was happening. The car didn’t slow down. Marc’s adrenaline started pumping as he tried to stay calm. A couple weeks prior, a man opposing a client of his had threatened, after court, to cut Marc’s brake lines. Marc hadn’t taken the threat seriously, as he was threatened regularly by people on the opposing side of court battles, and the threat seemed hollow and par for the course. Marc had only told a couple people about the threat, as they were so commonplace for him. Now, he wished he had told more people. What if he crashed? He’d want them to check the brakes and track down the man who had threatened him. Panicking now, Marc tried to think of a way to alleviate the problem. He couldn’t crash into a car in front of him--that would endanger the other driver. He sharply took an exit, switching lanes and cutting off the car to this right. They honked at him, but they didn’t know the situation Marc was dealing with. He would take this exit, and then he could slow down--dammit! The exit went downhill! What kind of exit goes downhill?! He was accelerating against his will, with no way to stop it. As Marc haphazardly rounded a corner, he noticed a tractor trailer ahead of him. He couldn’t crash into that--there was no way, it would be far too dangerous, what if it skidded into other cars--He had to break away to prevent injury to any other drivers. With his heart in his throat, and only half-conscious of what he was doing, Marc slightly turned the wheel to the right, avoiding looking at the speedometer as he powered full-force into a concrete barrier. Marc was blinded by a quick burst of energy, almost pain, but he had lost the ability to feel--Then it subsided, and darkness quickly came barreling in. “Hailey,” Marc breathed, before he was overtaken entirely.