ching on the frost-covered floor,

le mine were ragged and desperate, hers were calm, and measured. She

ts, "Reduced to nothing,

the ground, my teeth ch

e glee in her eyes, the satisfaction of seeing me li

commanded, her vo

she looked like me-or rather, how much I should have looked like her. She was everything I

oulder, pulling out a piece of stale bread. She tossed it to the ground in

t. "You wouldn't want your precious baby to starve

ng to do with the cold. I looked down at the bread, hard and stale,

nside me-the only thing keeping me tethered to this world, the only thing that gave m

ce to spit at her, while she just smi

ring just how much she knows, If even she was the on

t felt like a brick in my hand. I force myself to tear

dry and bitter, like ashes on my tongue. I had to fight the

not allow that child to see the light of th

s cut me. She wanted to see me break, to see the last shred of my dignity crumble be

bread. I press a hand to it, trying to communicate my love, and my determi

t finished. She crouched down in front of me, her fa

n that seeped into my soul. "It's no wonder they replaced

rs fighting to survive, to hold onto the small pieces of myself that hadn't been destroyed, but now, in

ew I was worthy of something but

me to look into her eyes. "Look at you," she

in, but I didn't cry out. Instead, I closed my ey

is, before the cold, before the darkness, but even those memorie

my chin was gone. And the door open