Inside, Saeles's fists were pounding the bag with a ferocity fueled by years of abuse and neglect. Her knuckles were raw, blood seeping through the tape, but she didn't stop. Her mother's voice echoed in her mind, a constant reminder that she could never be weak.
"You're slow! You're pathetic!" her mother spat from the doorway. "If you falter, you're nothing!"
Saeles's strikes intensified, each one more violent than the last. Her muscles screamed, her arms burned, and the room shook with the force of her blows. Pain had become her only companion. Endurance, her only language.
From the corner of the room, she sensed movement outside—but she ignored it. She didn't see Bada watching, trembling and crying, willing to endure anything to remain close.