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?”

ruining her aesthetic perfection. “We simply didn’t know how to handle the scandal. We thought… we believed that if you were isolated down there, without interference, you might… reconsider your options.”

“Reconsider my child?” I asked, a dangerous tremor entering my voice. “You subjected me to sensory deprivation and starvation, hoping I would spontaneously continue reading …