her hand onto Mara’s bruised wrist, squeezing it with bone-crushing force.
I watched Mara’s entire body go rigid. She didn’t scream, she couldn’t. She just gasped, a small, broken sound of pure agony. My mother leaned into Mara’s ear, her face twisted into a mask of pure malice. The microphone caught every venomous syllable:
“Don’t you dare flinch, you continue reading …