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…

tears spilling freely. I, on the other hand, merely stared at a spot just above his left shoulder. He loathed my silence with a venomous passion.

“Are you still pretending you possess some sort of bravery, Maya?” he asked that final night in the den, his voice a low, grating purr.

I swallowed hard, the metallic tang of blood already pooling behind my continue reading …