Chapter Two: Twelve Hours at the Apex

Through the viewfinder he saw two images: Duoduo in the hospital bed, and a healthy girl running in sunlight. “When were you strongest?” he whispered. Her eyes opened. “It hasn't happened yet.” His finger froze. The flash fired by itself. Darkness flooded the room. The monitor's beeping stretched into a single line. When the world returned, Duoduo sat upright, tore away her mask, and asked for strawberry ice cream. Doctors rushed in. Her mother held her, and everyone cried. The city did not visibly stop this time. The cost struck somewhere narrower. Forty-three seconds from Duoduo's first birthday vanished from every album and recording. Zhou remembered the cake and candles, but not the first time her daughter had said *Mama*.