A Lesson in Vengeance

by Victoria Lee

I understand the concept of sense memory. But understanding isn’t preparation.

I want to crack open her chest and peer inside, see how she ticks.

I feel as if I’ve read everything—every book in the world. Every title seems like a reiteration of something that came before it, the same story regurgitated over and over. I make a fine literature student, don’t I?

When classes fall into full swing, it’s easier to forget I’m haunted.

But all at once I feel as if she has knotted her fingers in the threads that hold me together, pulling them taut and close to breaking.

Your mind is powerful, Felicity, Dr. Ortega had said. You can summon terrible things. You also have the ability to banish them.