MARIANNE Mildred's body began to drift away, her form growing smaller as my vision blurred and my arms fell still. A deep numbness settled over me, and for a moment, I welcomed it, the darkness closing in. I shut my eyes, surrendering briefly, and then a face appeared in my mind—Troy’s. The memory was sharp and vivid, cutting through the haze. “I am your husband, Troy Stanford.” I remembered the first time I met him, after waking up disoriented in the hospital. His steady gaze and calming voice had anchored me, though I barely knew who he was. "We’re here to get married," I recalled, almost smiling at the memory of standing before the courthouse, Troy staring at me in stunned disbelief. That look in his eyes—it was confusion, maybe even anger, all mixed together. He hadn’t expected me to come up with something so crazy, but somehow, we’d found ourselves entangled in this pact. His voice echoed in my head, breaking through the fog. “I’ll stay by your side until the very end.”
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