For three years they called me a freak—and I stayed silent—until they touched my little sister in front of everyone, and the truth I buried finally came out and changed everything.

The intense heat from the fuel fire was creating a massive upward thermal draft, a physical variable that would naturally deflect the heavy chemical vapor away from the front section of the train. We sprinted through the flickering orange flames, the heat blistering the skin on my face as we bypassed the yellow cloud expanding behind us.

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