My daughter’s 16th birthday was supposed to be a celebration. Then I came home early and saw something I never expected. That discovery changed everything.

A pulse.

Weak.

Uneven.

But there.

“She’s alive,” I said.

The dispatcher answered immediately. “Sir, paramedics are less than four minutes away.”

Four minutes.

I had spent fifteen years learning how much could happen in four minutes.

“Stay with me, Violet.”

Her eyelids fluttered.

“Dad?”