Look at me, you coward. Look at my eyes, look at the eyes of the little girl that you met eight years ago. The little girl you saved and then destroyed. Esmaris’s sneer became a snarl, as if he had decided to silence me by wiping me from existence. Crack. Twenty-six. I brought my arms up to cover my face, but didn’t blink, not even as that barb nearly tore the tip of my nose. “Look. At. Me.” You will see my eyes in the darkness every night, every time you blink, every time you look at the girl who will replace me . . . Twenty-seven. My forearms were on fire. Darkness blurred the edges of my
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