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?”

engineering of my cage was flawless.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the true nature of my exile was dragged into the light.

Desperate for heavy blankets, I began excavating the towering stacks of storage bins near the dead appliances. Behind a fortress of dried-out paint cans, I unearthed a pristine, leather-bound artifact. It was one of my mother’s continue reading …