The Breath Before the Siren
The end of a long shift always felt heavier these days. Officer Daniel Brooks sat in his cruiser, lights dimmed, city quieting around him. His partner, Officer Mark Jensen, adjusted his radio and scanned the streets, unaware of the ritual unfolding beside him. It had been nearly six months since Daniel had started practicing the One Breath In technique—at first, just something his wife had nudged him into. “Visualize what you want for our family,” she had said. He thought it sounded like meditation dressed up in fancy words. But over time, the small ritual—pausing on a few 59th minutes of a few hours, breathing in with intention—had begun to soften the edges of his days. Tonight, though, he couldn’t stop thinking about the girl. Seventeen, trembling, defiant in the way only someone terrified could be. She had tried to steal from a small grocery store. When the call came in, it was supposed to be routine. But as soon as he and Jensen approached, she panicked—darting, shouting, swinging ...