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