Chapter 9 - Building a New Life
I finished high school and started working at a local library. I loved the smell of the books—the way they were tangible, real, and didn’t have any hidden codes written inside them.
Lena started middle school. She made friends—real friends who didn't care about our past, because they didn't know it. She kept her wrist covered with bracelets, not because she was afraid of the light, but because it was her history, and she wanted to keep it private.
We lived in a small house with a yellow porch. I kept the promise I’d made to her years ago: we painted her bedroom yellow. It was bright, sunny, and entirely hers.
May you like
Sometimes, at night, I would wake up and check on her. She would be sleeping peacefully, her breath steady. The ghost of the girl from the basement was gone, replaced by a sister who laughed at bad jokes and hated doing homework.
We were survivors. But more than that, we were finally free.
