The back of the police car is quiet.
Vinyl seats.
Breath held between heartbeats.
GHOST notices it first.
The door.
Unlocked.
The deputies are gone.
Waiting on transport.
Sturgis.
Meade County Jail.
He leans close to STAR.
Tells her—quietly.
This could be the chance.
She whispers one word:
Run.
He looks at her.
Really looks.
Her body says go.
But her eyes—
they beg him to stay.
GHOST makes his choice.
He doesn’t move.
Not because he can’t.
Because he won’t.
In that moment,
she falls for him harder
than she ever had before.
Not because he stayed—
but because staying
was the most courageous thing
anyone had ever done for her.