Pride blinds people to the truth of what they are.

Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just...want to see it again. Want to see you awake.

I look older. Maybe it's the short hair or maybe it's just that I wear all that has happened like a mask. Either way, I always thought I would be happy when I stopped looking like a child. But all I feel is a lump in my throat. I am no longer the daughter my parents knew. They will never know me as I am now.

"What did you do?" I scream. "You die, I die too."

It was him or me. I chose me. But I feel dead too.

My name will be Edith Proir," she says. "And there is much I am happy to forget.

In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life.