A Steel Heart

Five seconds. A deafening blast. Pain. Silence. That was all it took for an IED to end my life as I knew it. The man I was shattered in a hard wave of sound and debris that rained down on me like death itself. And six months later, after waking up to an inescapable hell, I found myself wishing that death had found me. Until her. Miranda Jacobs swept into my life like a cool breeze on a smoldering day. With her smart mouth and her ridiculous jokes, she brought me back to life one minute at a time. Turned out time wasn’t on our side. Five seconds. Screams. Twisted metal. Silence. And I’d lost it all againâ€"only this time, I had no one to blame but myself.