ora

ing but lukewarm air that did nothing to

atever body heat I had left. The solitary confinement cells back in the facility never had

windshield wipers scraped back and forth with a

eyes swept over my faded, oversized coat, my unwashed hair, and my

ght back at him through the mirror. My eyes were comp

ly shifting his eyes bac

gaze on the blur of white

y cheeks were hollow, my skin pal

my face. The skin was rough, weathered

beautiful, delicate stepsister, collapsing into my parents'

ly grew louder. I could hear my father's b

for the fatal medical error Clara had made at the family's pharmaceutica

hands, her tears spilling over her perfectly powdered cheeks, promising

violently shaking my hea

the brakes. My body jerked

st the back of the driver's seat to stop

against the steering wheel as a massive ci

e glowing digital meter on the dashboa

thin envelope of cash the warden had given m

y from Oyster Bay. The mone

e power button to check the screen

white light, flickered twice

lammed the useless piece of pl

g breath. "Pull over at

to the side of the road, stopping about t

llar bill I had onto the front se

low, dragging the heavy snow in a

into the snow, the freezing wetness seeping

rward, relying purely on the mental map I ha

gates and high-tech security cameras of the neighboring

ly numb. Every step required a massive

ing my freezing body through

gate. Beyond the bars, a massive, brilliantly

ight spilling from the floor-to-ceiling windows. My breath plume

ter have a perfe