In Chap­ter Sev­en­ty-Six of “If These Wings Could Fly,” we find our­selves in a scene filled with trau­ma and uncer­tain­ty. The char­ac­ters hud­dle in the street, their toes numb and hearts filled with doubt. Emer­gency Med­ical Tech­ni­cians (EMTs) assess their con­di­tions while a police offi­cer ques­tions them about the events that tran­spired. Amidst this chaos, Mrs. Stieg arrives, offer­ing com­fort with blan­kets and cof­fee for moth­ers and respon­ders alike.

As the ten­sion ris­es, an oxy­gen mask is applied to Camp­bell, and the pro­tag­o­nist expe­ri­ences a jar­ring moment when her dress is cut open, reveal­ing a bloody injury where a bul­let grazed her side. This stark image con­veys the vio­lence they’ve endured and hints at the phys­i­cal toll it has tak­en on her.

Bill DiMar­co makes an entrance, final­ly deliv­er­ing the words they’ve longed to hear: an arrest war­rant. He out­lines the vio­la­tions that led to this moment—violations that include the endan­ger­ment of chil­dren and the fir­ing of a gun, under­scor­ing that prison time is inevitable for the assailant. While these rev­e­la­tions should bring a sense of jus­tice, our pro­tag­o­nist steps away, drawn toward the remains of the house that once stood. The fire chief restricts her move­ment, but her desire to con­front the destruc­tion fueled by vio­lence is pal­pa­ble.

Reflect­ing on the malev­o­lent shad­ow that lurked near them, she con­tem­plates its prox­im­i­ty to their lives and how eas­i­ly it could have swal­lowed them whole. The mem­o­ry is suf­fused with a lega­cy of anger and an inher­i­tance of fear that lingers in the after­math of their ordeal. How­ev­er, unlike before, the house in ruins will not be able to erase the vio­lence inflict­ed upon them. The ash­es stand tes­ta­ment to their pain, as dark as a crow’s wings, sig­ni­fy­ing a poignant end to an era marked by fear and suf­fer­ing.