My Husband Bought Me Flowers To Celebrate My Promotion. A Homeless Woman Just Warned Me That Smelling Them Will Kill Me. Should I Trust My Husband Of Five Years Or A Stranger?

She met with Cassie several times. Cassie got a job as a cashier in a small shop. She rented a room in a boarding house. She took her son to daycare while she worked. Life was slowly but surely getting back on track.

They drank tea in the boarding house kitchen. They talked about simple things: work, the weather, plans for the future. They didn’t talk about that night. There was no need. Everything had already been said.

A year passed. Eleanor stood on the balcony of her new apartment. She looked out at the city illuminated by the nightlights and thought about how fragile life is. How one breath can be your last. How one decision can change everything.

She had survived not because she was stronger or smarter or more careful. She survived because she hadn’t taken a breath. Because a strange woman decided not to stay silent. Because sometimes in the darkest moment an unexpected light appears, strange but life-saving.

Eleanor smiled. Life went on and she was grateful for every new day, for every breath, for every chance to keep on.