What if they lock me in and I can't go out?
The thought sent a violent shiver down my spine, ice threading through my veins. Memories crashed over me like a tidal wave, dragging me back to a time I had tried so hard to forget—the nights they had locked me in, not out of concern, not out of discipline, but sheer, unfiltered cruelty.
"You don't deserve to be out there," Selena had sneered, her voice sickly sweet as she dangled the key just out of my reach. "Why should you get to enjoy anything when everything you have was never meant to be yours?"
"Please," I had whispered, swallowing my pride, my dignity. "Just let me out."
Mariela had only laughed, the sharp, amused sound cutting through the heavy silence of the hallway. "Maybe next time, you'll learn to be grateful, Hermia."
