“It’s not feeling safe here, or with any of you, that’s the problem,” she continues, looking at each of us. “I don’t like being lied to. Or coddled. I can help. I want to help. I can’t bear to be bundled up and put on a shelf like a dress-up doll when you’re done playing with me. I think . . . I think I would rather live alone than live like that.”
