After my stepfather injured my twin sister and me, he brought us to the hospital. My mother calmly told the doctor, “They just fell down the stairs.” My stepfather smiled, thinking he had won. But as the nurse checked my vitals, I slipped a handwritten note into her pocket, and…

the sterile, blinding glare of fluorescent hospital lights assaulted my vision. The heavy scent of iodine and bleach coated the back of my throat. I turned my head, agony flaring down my neck, and saw Chloe lying motionless on the adjacent cot, a tangle of IV tubes snake-charming their way into her pale arm.

Arthur was standing near the edge of the continue reading …