Phoenix Project: Her True Self

ed in red on the kitchen calendar, also

ow certainty as I washed dishes, my hands imme

General Sterling, my father' s commanding officer

gram needed me, that my name was at the top

al hero who saved lives, now spent my days scr

emind me of the woman I used t

, excitedly showing off an expensive drone Julia had bought for

eaming, ruffling Leo's hair, completely ignoring

the boys" as if I were a servant, a humiliation that burned

on cheered as Mark replaced my framed picture in

t meant nothing, that I was "weak" and had "gotten soft,"

my own son,

ing through me; through the agony, I saw Leo's triumpha

gloating about their plan: my injury meant I' d "go away for a l

was "more like your mom," echoing Mark' s casual cruelty and Julia' s

larity descended: the lie I' d been living w

ia needed a directed blood donation

d to the woman who conspired against me, showing

d, looking at

lia's anemia was chronic and had disquali

it would lull them into a false sense of security, a fin

d, offering a wilted flower, murmuring that Cody

of maternal instinct died; he was thei

e reeking of Julia' s perfume, my photo gone, an

ition to make demands" and tried to physica

his momentum against him, and pinned him face-do

Commander Vance, of Phoenix. "I am not weak. I

ing Mark and Julia in the ruins of the life they