The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 57

It was late at night.

Sloane sat alone at the desk in her rented apartment. The desk lamp was the only light source in the room, casting her in a dim, yellow halo.

The stack of medical records was spread out across the desk. The topmost report was dated March 15, 2021.

She picked it up and flipped through it page by page. She had just turned twenty-three then. Aside from a touch of mild anemia, every single health marker on the report was absolutely flawless.

Who could have guessed that three years later...

Sloane let out a silent sigh and pulled a black pen from the holder. With agonizing precision, she rested the nib against the final '1' in '2021'. Her movements were so light they were practically soundless.

In a matter of seconds, the number '1' was transformed into a '4'. It matched the printed '4' on the page flawlessly.

It looked completely seamless.

Under the glow of the lamp, Sloane picked up her "new" report, her fingers tracing slowly over the smooth paper.

Suddenly, she thought of that afternoon in the hospital garden. She remembered the scratchy, vibrant sensation of the tortoiseshell cat licking her fingertips.

It was so soft, so fleeting.

Just like the healthy future she had just manually forged—a future she would never live to see.

*

Inside the office at the Metropolitan Aquatics Center.

She carefully controlled her buoyancy and adjusted her posture. It only took half the descent for her movements to transition from slightly rusty to fluid perfection.

Coach Jensen observed her closely, ready to issue corrections, but he quickly realized all he needed to do was follow. Sloane's body moved through the water with a natural, highly efficient rhythm. Her kicks were precise, her posture iron-clad, and her adaptation to the depth and pressure was astonishingly fast.

By the edge of the pool, several young trainees observing the session began to gather around.

"Who is that? A newbie? Her form is insanely clean!"

"I heard Coach Hayes recruited her personally. Apparently, she used to be a big deal?"

"A big deal doesn't cover it... look at her neutral buoyancy. She's practically pinned in the water. I've been training for three months and I'm not half that stable."