o

lery against porcel

Mecha

g hall besides the faint ticking of the

carrot around my plate, pret

y mother, his voice a low, firm current I was ex

a vess

d sculpture of ma

n't m

s," my father said, glancing at me over the rim of his wine g

lin

her

erformance I ha

ice betraying none of the st

ight

rov

nvisible

tle smile, the kind that

lling, darling," she said sweetly

is a fin

tc

e racehorse being

od, forcing my h

y grandfather loomed - his cold g

f where loya

duty

y, feelings w

re an inco

were da

e broken glass, feeling every

mother asked after a moment

aus

s no goo

re

would accuse me of w

would remind me that pressure

e, practiced - and

odded again

sted in th

re

t girls at school hated me for

ss gnawed at the edges of my soul

ood at the edge of the courtyard fountai

endless, bloodless nothi

dn't

he

uld

uld

play m

ipt burned do

, I climbed the gra

st the marble steps, a

in the house that felt remotely mine

window and pressed my fo

symmetry, the hedges casting long, sharp

city pulsed with life

ed too loudly, cried openl

as never me

toni

ng tugged at the

thing new stirrin

I couldn't

ke the beginning of

rst time in a

ly sure if I wo

n tow

dn't com

eiling, watching shadows shift across the wh

a clock tic

nce was

phone. No messages. No missed calls.

ed my

rtyard fountain bathed in golden hour light, soft spra

trange moment earlier. That inexplicable awareness - like I

and put the

us girl. I believed in

uctured, schedu

hat f

t been i

lt like..

by something I d

rning, I dr

lders, pressed collar. A look that said privileg

d the pearl studs she insisted I wear. "Elegance

pered in me anyway

at a croissant and drank half a cup of coffee while M

at the table. Nei

was u

didn

questions in this house ea

pped outside, the autumn chill thr

miss?"

iron gates as they slid open for us. Beyond

full of

.. someone

didn't go str

ifted toward

't sur

...

playing across its surface. It looked

for a breath.

little peace I used

l calm. I felt..

, slowly

oud music from someone's earbuds. A g

y pulse

was comi

't kno

ke a shadow just