I WATCHED A MONSTER THROW A HEAVY WOODEN CRATE INTO THE FREEZING RIVER, AND WHEN I SAW IT SINK, I DIDN’T JUST SCREAM—I JUMPED. The icy water stopped my heart, but as I dragged myself onto the mud holding three shivering lives against my chest, I looked up at the man watching from the bridge and knew I was about to destroy his entire world.
The cold in this town doesn’t just sit on your skin; it burrows into your bones and sets up camp. It was a Tuesday, the kind of gray, heavy afternoon where the sun gives up by 4:00 PM and the streetlights buzz with a sickly orange hum. I was walking along the embankment, head down,…