A Morning Like Any Other
That morning began the same way every weekday did for Emma Parker, a 29-year-old accountant from Austin, Texas. The house smelled of toasted bread and fresh coffee as she prepared breakfast for her husband, Jason.

It was her routine — rise early, tidy the kitchen, iron a shirt, pack his lunch, and head out to work before the city’s heat began to swell.

Ezoic
Her husband owned a small business downtown. Lately, though, something about him had changed.

He was distracted, distant. The once-loving man who used to kiss her forehead before work now barely looked up from his phone.

He’s just stressed, Emma told herself again and again. The business must be weighing on him.

Ezoic
But that morning, the weight she felt was her own — the weight of unease she couldn’t quite explain.

The Sudden Panic
Traffic was heavy on Congress Avenue. Emma drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to turn green.

Then it hit her like a jolt of electricity.

Ezoic
The stove.

Her chest tightened. She replayed the morning in her mind — frying eggs, answering a work call, rushing out the door — but she couldn’t remember turning the gas off.

A rush of panic consumed her.