her lungs. It was a violent, desperate intake of brea

moke, the taste of ash. But the air was cool. It

raced herself for the agony of crushe

th

muscles were intact. Th

room. The sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains-the ones that had burned. The chand

No screaming sirens. Just the hu

d. She grabbed her iPhone, her fingers slipp

stared ba

mber

years

s was the second week after she had been brought back from the foster system. The week she had decided to dye her hair blonde

f bed and ran to th

ged eyeliner, clumpy mascara, foundation that was two shades too light. It was a mas

re. Arthur's cold eyes. Karly'

til her knuckles turned white. The ceramic was

dead. She

gh escaped her throa

pered to her ref

e, scrubbing aggressively. She dug her nails into her skin, clawing away t

her face dry. When she looked back a

devoid of the pleading warmth that used to reside there. The need

the reflection. Her voice wa

Bang

door shook o

d from the hallway. "What ar

e memory of fear ingrained over years of abuse. Her he

d Karly. Archer was the one w

ed, replaced by a

yelled again. "Do you think

he walked back into the bedroom and calmly put on her silk r

placed her hand on the brass

ed the d

htly at the sudden lack of resistance. He was red-faced, his mouth open, rea

g to see the cowering girl who

yes locked onto his. There was no flicker of intimi

lowered slowly. The w

ked. One word.

"I... Dad is wai

st time," Kala said.

dog that had barked at a rabbit and the rabbit had b

tilted her head. "

ying to regain his dominance. "Yesterday.

Karly had knocked over while tryin

tly. It wasn't a smile.

"The vase. Let's go

away from his physical presence. She walked down the ce

of the grand stair

here. The cast

. Karly was dabbing at dry eyes with a lace handkerchief, looking fragile and tragic. Only Antoine was missing, alre

ister. The wood was

the first