“Alyssa, don’t do it!” Jake pleaded.

As Jake stared at the ticking bomb, he tried wiggling and squirming tirelessly to break free from the ropes. But the uncomfortably tight ropes, bounding him tightly to the table like a python strangling its prey to death, refused to budge. He couldn’t even feel his legs or his feet, and his mind told him right away, _There’s no getting out of this one_.

“This is my revenge for you breaking my heart.” Alyssa laughed, sounding like a maniac choking on a bagel.

And revenge it sure was. “I had no other choice,” Jake insisted, his voice somewhat slurred and stumbled.

“I loved you,” Alyssa cried, tears beginning to roll down her face. “I loved you with all my heart. I thought we had a future together, and THIS is how you repay me?”

“Alyssa, please HEAR me, or we’ll both be dead in five…”

But before Jake could finish speaking slower than a sloth, she shoved a napkin into his mouth, gagging him and muffling his speech. “Just shut up. I don’t want to hear your excuses,” she scoffed.

“Fee finufes!” Jake managed to weakly utter through the napkin.

As he stared at Alyssa, his facial expression softened, defeated and hopeless. He thought of the happy memories they had had together. He thought of the day that he was driving to Alyssa’s house, licking his lips in anticipation of the delicious chicken dinner she and her parents had prepared for him. He recalled waking up in the hospital, having no recollection of being t-boned and suffering life-altering injuries.

Then he noticed the bomb. He was immediately distracted by the various colours of the bomb - the sleek white and silver of the bomb itself, the blue wire, the green wire, the red wire, and the red numbers counting down from two minutes remaining, to one minute and thirty seconds.

One minute.

Finally Jake felt the napkin slip out of his mouth. “Save me, please! Have you thought about our families? My parents will grieve for life, and yours will either grieve you or watch you rot in jail!” I pleaded, desperately. “Think of them, think of US, not yourself for once!”

Thirty-five seconds.

Alyssa’s facial expression softened, but she just sat still. “Please, Alyssa. You know I’m not a man who’s suited to be the father of your future baby. But I have connections. I’ll help you find someone else. We’ll both be happy again. We can both move on from this. You just have to give it a chance, Alyssa.”

But Alyssa still sat there, a sad expression on her face. Twenty seconds. The beeping on the bomb suddenly began to speed up, and Alyssa suddenly clutched her head and tugged at her hair.

As the bomb beeped like an emergency alarm that was in a calm panic mode, Alyssa felt her heart beginning to race, her breath accelerating. Her mind flashed back to the day she left the therapist’s office and Jake congratulated her on beating her struggle with depression. She thought of her parents smiling as she shared a long, romantic kiss with Jake. She thought of the day she went to visit Jake in the hospital after his car crash, only to be told that he had suffered from a brain injury and was paralyzed from the waist down.

She remembered the looks on the faces of Jake’s parents as they accepted that he would never walk again. Then she snapped out of her flashback, clenching her jaw and gazing down at her pant pocket.

Ten… nine… eight… seven…

She pulled a key out of her pocket. She could feel her eyes watering and her fists clenching as she held back the urge to scream. She ran over to the bomb and cut the red wire. The timer froze and the bomb died down. Two seconds to spare.

Finally, she bent over and started crying. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Please just untie me,” Jake gently requested.

Reluctantly, Alyssa obliged. As soon as the ropes were freed, Jake twisted and turned before falling off the table and to the ground weakly, his legs and feet completely numb, no feeling in them whatsoever. He could feel Alyssa picking him up and squeezing him with all her might. Her sobs filled the room, and little drops of water stained Jake’s button-up shirt.

All Jake could do was breathe as he returned the embrace. But deep inside, with every breath, Jake felt peace.