Chapter 10 - The Horizon
Six months later, I found myself back on a beach, but this time, it was my own terms.
I had taken a weekend leave to a secluded stretch of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The sun was setting, casting a brilliant orange glow over the crashing waves.
I reached down and pulled my t-shirt over my head, dropping it onto the sand. The coastal breeze hit the heavy scars on my back. For the first time in my life, I didn't flinch. I didn't look over my shoulder to see who was staring.
I walked toward the water, feeling the cool foam wash over my feet.
I had received a letter from Kyle, Vanessa’s ex-fiancé, earlier that week. He apologized for not realizing what I had gone through and told me that Vanessa had moved out of state to take a receptionist job, completely exiled from the life she once cherished. My father lived alone in his massive house, surrounded by medals that suddenly felt meaningless without anyone to share them with.
They had tried to write my story as a tragedy. They tried to paint me as a broken, disgraced failure.
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But as I dove into the crashing waves of the Atlantic, the saltwater stinging my skin and washing away the last remnants of the past, I knew the truth.
I was unbreakable. And my story was just beginning.
