My family locked me in the basement to give birth. Days later, they returned to find a dark red liquid seeping from the door. As my mother screamed, a voice whispered behind her, “Looking for me?”

affection.

“This pregnancy of yours,” she hissed, her voice a low, venomous vibration. “You are going to obliterate everything.”

I took a step back, the glass trembling in my grip. “What are you talking about, Sam?”

Her words lashed out like a physical strike. “Why can’t you just birth this child and vanish? Stop acting as a parasite on our lives.”

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