My heart was removed, the frail thing as crimson as a beet in the large hands of that creature. Even removed from my chest, it beat with a certain desperation. The momentary glimpse I had of it awoke something maternal within me; how small my heart seemed, how intrepid and stubborn for such a small thing. It felt apt to call that thing my heart; a scared little girl hiding in the skeleton of an imposter. The gaping hole in my chest was like a distant ache. Something I was supposed to panic about, but the sensation never came. There was a certain terror from being in such a state. The world of
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