The System’s Cruel Canvas
happiness, for my eventual escape, I would let them carve a piece of me out.
life with Alex. There was a picture of them at a cafe, his hand covering hers. Another of them laughing on a sailboat. The caption read, "Feeling so blessed to have this man by my
strangled sob escaping my lips. Eac
taff. I focused on the physical pain, a sharp, searing agony in my side, because it was easier to bear than the emotional torment.
hrobbing fire in my abdomen. I refused to see any visitors. I didn't want the pity from my adoptive
placed a small, simple painting of a single, resilient tree surviving in a barren landscape. On the card, I wrote, "May you
t get through the day, when the doorbell rang. It was Sarah. She lo
with fake sympathy. "I just wanted to
at her, too we
an move past it." She looked around my small apartment, a faint look of disdain on her face. Then he
er new kidney-my kidney-was. "Oh!" she gasped, her face contorting in pain. She "accidentall
ng?" I asked, con
welling in her eyes. "You pushed me, Chloe! I
of primal fury. He must have been waiting just outside. He saw Sar
and slapped me across the face. The force of it sent me stumbling ba
Sarah, cradling her with an impossible tenderness. "Are you okay, sweeth
e one last time, his eyes filled with a hatred so profound it felt like it could incin
ming in agony. I was empty. There was nothing left to give, nothing left for them to take. I had
partment, my phone buzzed. A text from
ffice