It had been a Friday night. Garrett had just come home from a friend’s house. The room was dark, and his mom was passed out on the floor, face down, probably exhausted from work. She was always working—no, wait; there was blood beside her body. Garrett rushed to the aid of his mother, checking for any signs of life. He was too late though. He wasn’t sure whether it was the bullet hole clearly visible in her neck, or maybe it was the marks on her face where she must have been severely beaten. Either way, his mother was dead.
Garrett’s heart jumped, and rage flowed through his body. He immediately checked for signs of his father. This didn’t take very long, his dad was in the next room unconscious, probably passed out from drinking as usual. Despite this being a common occurrence, Garrett stared in utter disbelief at his pathetic father. His mother had just been beaten and shot to death, and here was his already-useless father who could have possibly stopped the murder. Garrett’s mind was jolted back into reality as the ambulance arrived at the hospital. His face was bright red out of rage and frustration. His family had fallen apart, and now, after watching this tragedy, it felt like four years ago all over again. Still, this could turn out differently. The girl wasn’t dead yet, and Garrett wasn’t about to lose faith; not now, after everything he’d done for her. The girl was rushed into the hospital on a stretcher. Fortunately, they had managed to sustain the bleeding to a certain point. This was probably the most painful part of the entire night, for there was nothing he could do anymore. He had to just sit and wait for the doctors to operate. Garrett thought back to when he had first showed up at the store. Man was that a long time ago. A few hours can feel like an eternity.
Within a split-second, Garrett blinked and looked back up at the monitor next to the girl. Was he seeing right? The girl had a pulse. In this instant, Garrett felt a surge of energy that he had never felt before.

After hours of being stabilized and heavily medicated, the girl woke up from the medicine. Garrett hadn’t moved a muscle since the doctors began operating. He wasn’t going anywhere. The minute she opened her eyes and gazed into his, Garrett was speechless. He merely waved. There was so much going through his head at the moment; all he could think of was a wave. The girl’s eyes were dark red, but through the pain within her, he could see the life that ceased to exist only hours ago. Then, the girl’s lips slowly began to part. She was trying to say something, but what? Garrett heard a sound, something along of the lines of “tha.” He assumed she was trying to say thanks, so he interrupted her struggle and responded with, “Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it. I was selfish. I saved you because I had to.” The words were coming to her. “I don’t care why you did it. I can see it in your eyes, your pain, your hope. I know I am alive because of you, and for that I thank you.”