We The Kings - Just Keep Breathing -

He reached out and flicked the radio dial. A familiar acoustic guitar melody cut through the static, followed by a voice that sounded like a hand reaching through the dark. “Just keep breathing...”

The song built into a swell of percussion, a defiant heartbeat. Elias realized he wasn't just sitting in a car; he was standing at a crossroads. The bills were real, the fear was real, but the air in his lungs was more real. We The Kings - Just Keep Breathing

He put the car in gear. He didn't have all the answers, and the rain hadn't stopped, but the rhythm of the song had become the rhythm of his feet on the pedals. One mile. One minute. One breath at a time. He reached out and flicked the radio dial

He thought about his sister, who was waiting for him at home with a smile she didn't know she was supposed to lose yet. He thought about the sunrise he’d seen two days ago—the way the orange light had bled into the gray sky, proving that the dark never actually wins the morning. Elias realized he wasn't just sitting in a

Elias sat in the driver’s seat of his beat-up sedan, the engine idling with a rhythmic, metallic rattle that matched the frantic thrumming in his chest. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel. On the passenger seat lay a stack of medical bills and a "Final Notice" letter that seemed to glow under the yellow hum of the streetlights.

He drove into the night, no longer drowning, just moving through the water.