The front door burst open, and Adrian stepped inside. It was earlier than I expected.
Lena was still crying, fake tears rolling down her cheeks, and everyone seemed to buy it. Vivi ran to him immediately, her voice high and shrill.
"She's gone crazy, Adrian. She's hitting people now," she said quickly. "I told you, last time she got mad at me and hurt my arm because I took one of her stupid trinkets, and now she's slapping people."
"What?" Adrian looked confused.
"She slapped Lena," Vivi said again, as if that proved everything.
Adrian's eyes found mine. The disgust in them was like a slap of its own. He didn't say anything before brushing past me to go straight to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, crouching beside her.
"I'm fine," Lena muttered, her voice breaking, before she started crying harder.
Her sobs filled the living room, echoing off the marble floors and the tall ceiling. Mother hovered beside her, rubbing her shoulders, whispering soft words of comfort as if she were the victim.
Those tears had always looked so real to me before. I used to do anything not to see Lena cry. But now I could see it—the way she could summon tears on command. The way she could make everyone believe her.
"Star," Mother's voice cut through the noise, "what has gotten into you?"
"Lena can explain," I said, barely able to find my voice.
"Enough," Adrian snapped.
I turned to him, the man who was supposed to be mine, watching him kneel beside her.
"What is this situation?" I whispered, more to myself. "This is supposed to be my family."
He stood and crossed the room, his steps heavy against the tiled floor. He stopped in front of me, the air between us cold.
"Just what the hell is wrong with you?" he said. His grip closed around my arms, rough and unrelenting.
I wanted to speak, to explain, but my throat refused to move. The room was spinning. The smell of eggs still hung in the air, thick and sour. I felt sick.
Air.
I needed air.
I should have run to the bathroom, but my body moved on its own. I bolted for the door.
The last thing I heard before it slammed behind me was Lena's trembling voice. "Please, Adrian, don't be too harsh on her. She's just emotional right now."
Mother's sigh followed. "I always told you I didn't like that girl."
Outside, the sky was gray again. The rain from earlier clung to the air, cold against my skin. I could still feel their eyes on my back, their whispers chasing after me.
She's finally lost it.It's not just the baby. She's always been like this.
I kept running.
Even when the house disappeared behind me, I couldn't stop. The sound of my footsteps on wet pavement mixed with the pounding in my head.
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe any of it.
Lena said she loved him. Adrian said nothing.
They were in love.
How? How had I never seen it?
Lena could have had anyone she wanted. Why him? Why this?
The perfect picture of my family, the one I'd built in my mind for years, cracked apart piece by piece.
Wasn't this supposed to be my family? The one my dead parents had blessed me with to carry me through this unlucky life? The ones who were supposed to love me the way they couldn't?
The ones who were supposed to protect me.
Wasn't Lena supposed to be my sister for life? She was the one who gave me her bread on the second day I'd been brought to the orphanage, when I was starving because the rations were barely enough and didn't even taste good. I'd been crying for my mom and dad, asking when they would come and take me home. The adults had been cold and scary.
She'd said, Your parents aren't coming back. Mine aren't either. So you have to be a big girl now. The adults don't bother with us, so you have to stick up for yourself. Then she'd handed me her bread.
It was the most delicious thing I'd tasted since waking up in the hospital after the accident. It reminded me of my mom, and I'd eaten it with tears streaming down my face.
I loved Lena. I'd followed her around like a puppy. We did everything together. She was the one who told me about boys and that I was smart enough to go to college. So why? Why was she looking at me like she hated me?
Like everything she ever said to me was a lie. Like maybe I was the only one who had ever thought of her as family.
A car horn startled me. I blinked and realized I'd made it downtown, staring at the shops and people passing by. Everyone seemed to be living a better life than me.
I didn't want to go home. Back there, I wondered if anyone even saw me.
I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. A man brushed past and shoved my shoulder hard enough to sting.
The pain barely registered. It hurt less than the one sitting in my chest.
I leaned against the side of a building beside a coffee shop I'd passed a hundred times but never entered, trying to steady my breathing.
Then a sharp pain shot through my belly.
God, no. Not now.
My baby.
The pain persisted, deep and twisting, growing stronger with every second.
I tried to move, to call a taxi, to do something, anything, but the pain swallowed me whole. I could barely stand. I could barely breathe.
I had to do something. My baby. She was the only thing I still had. I couldn't lose her. Without her, I wouldn't want to live anymore.
A stranger stepped out from the coffee shop. All I could see were his feet moving toward me, the black of his shoes blurring in my vision as I reached for him. My fingers clutched at his hand, desperate.
"Please," I begged, my voice trembling. "Please, something's wrong. My baby."
"Miss? What are you talking about?"
"Save my baby," I whispered.
Those were the last words that left my mouth before everything went dark.
Please, please save my baby.