---
She was soft the first time I saw her.
Quiet in that creepy way—like someone who listens too much and speaks too little.
My father introduced her like an afterthought. "Your new sister," he said. "Behave."
I don't think he meant it. But he knew I wouldn't anyway.
She didn't flinch when I looked at her. Didn't smile either. She just… watched me. With eyes like glass—shiny and hollow.
I've seen that look before.
Mostly in the mirror.
---
I tried to ignore her.
At dinner, she chewed too softly. In the hallway, she walked like a shadow. At school, she made herself invisible—until she didn't.
The red dress was the first warning.
Tight. Delicate. Blood-colored.
I almost said something cruel, something sharp, but all I asked was,
"You like attention?"
She said no.
I didn't believe her.
---
Then there was that boy.
I heard her laugh from across the hallway—soft and untrained, like she wasn't used to the sound. She touched him. He touched back.
It was Liam.
I hated Liam.
Not because he had her attention.
But because he didn't deserve it.
I watched them after school. He walked her to the gates. Smiled like she belonged to him.
I think that's what snapped.
Because she didn't belong to him.
She didn't belong to anyone.
But if she had to belong to someone…
---
Liam wasn't at school the next day.
No one knew why.
But I did.
And so did she.
She asked to go to the bathroom during roll call.
She never came back.
I followed her, silent through the hallway.
She was leaning against the wall, one hand gripping her phone, the other pressed to her chest like she was about to cry.
She didn't hear me.
Or maybe she did.
She looked small. Fragile.
I wanted to break her open and see what was underneath. I wanted to crawl inside her bones and make her feel something real.
But all I did was leave.
Because if I stayed—
I wouldn't leave until she was mine.