What She Left Behind

by Ellen Marie Wiseman

How desperate did a person have to become before they broke the law to survive?

So this is what it feels like to be an orphan, she thought, her throat and eyes burning. From now on, there will never be at least one person in the world thinking of me every day, loving me unconditionally. I am finally, truly alone.

The world was full of broken people, and all the hospitals and institutions and jails could never mend their fractured hearts, wounded minds, and trampled spirits.