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My stoaze from the mirror I couldn’t look at myself anymore Every time I did, I remembered another version of myself One with eyes that sparkled and a smile that came readily to her lips One ild and full of life

One who loved three beautiful, dangerous boys

She was still inside me, that version of myself But I felt like every day, she beca everything they could to snuff her out

The trappings of this wealthy, luxurious life had once felt coht It was all I’d ever known

But now I knew so else I knehat it was like to dance in a cold, empty warehouse tothrough my veins and the press of three hot, solid bodies around me to keep warm

I knehat it was like to fight To laugh

To love

Only one of those things happened in this house, and even the fighting felt stifled and suffocated My parents could barely be in the same room with each other anymore, and I was almost positive Dad knew about Moht about it properly They just picked at each other, throwing little poison darts with their words, and pretended that life could go on as nor was how it had been before Dad’s arrest

He was trying to get it back though To put everything back together and rebuild the shattered pieces of his life

And the way he hoped to acco me off

Of course, no actual bill of sale would be written up Novows

But that didn’t change the basic fact that I was being sold