A cold shiver ran down my spine as she slowly turned to face me. Her eyes burned with anger and something deeper—disgust—but her lips held a twisted smile.
"Hmm... I never thought we'd see each other again. Not after that day," she said, rising from the bed with her gaze locked on mine. I instinctively took a step back.
"Why are you backing away, friend? I thought you'd be happy to see me. Isn't that what you always called me—your sister, your best friend?" she whispered, grabbing my hand tightly. Too tightly.
"Jo...sephine, what's wrong with you?" I asked, trying to pull away from her iron grip.
She laughed bitterly. "What's wrong with me? You really want to ask that?" she snapped before shoving me backward.
I hit the floor hard, pain shooting through my back as I struggled to sit up. Josephine stood over me, fists clenched, eyes blazing.
"You ruined everything, Mia! You shattered what we had—us—our peace, our bond. You tore it all apart!"
Her words hit me like a blow. I was stunned. What was she talking about?
"I... I don't understand, Josephine. What did I do?"
"Don't play dumb!" she barked. "Don't use that sweet-girl act on me again. That's the same manipulative charm you used on Miss Cathy. It's the same trick that made us believe you were one of us!"
I felt tears sting my eyes. "But I was one of you. I never stopped thinking about all of you. Not a single day passed—"
"THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!" she screamed, cutting me off.
Silence filled the room.
And I had no answer.
I could feel her pain as clearly as my own. Her eyes welled up, and mine mirrored them. She looked at me—searching, waiting—for an answer I didn't know how to give.
"Answer me, Mia," she said, her voice breaking. "Why did you leave us? I thought we were your family. Did you even think about how it would hurt? Did you care what would happen to us when you disappeared?"
I shivered, every part of me trembling, my mind scrambling for the right words.
"Mia… speak. Speak!" Josephine screamed, tears finally spilling down her cheeks.
"I… I was scared…" I whispered.
"Scared of what?" she demanded.
"I… I thought Miss Cathy was going to send me away. I didn't want to be alone."
"What?!" Her voice rose, almost in disbelief. "How could you even think that, Mia? Miss Cathy loved you more than any of us. She saw you like her own daughter. And you thought she'd abandon you?"
"Just stop, Josephine. Stop!" I shouted, finding my voice at last. I stood up, anger and guilt clashing inside me.
"You don't know what I went through. My childhood was a nightmare. The pain… the fear..."
"We all had pain,Mia!" she yelled back. "You think you had it worse? I watched my parents kill themselves right in front of me. I had no one. But we still chose to stay and fight together."
I opened my mouth, but no words came.
"Did you even think about Miss Cathy?" she continued, voice cracking. "She was crushed when you left. She stopped smiling, stopped talking. She would sit at the door every single day, hoping to see you walk back in."
I felt like the air had been punched from my lungs.
"Ronnie…" she whispered. "He couldn't take it. He went out to find you. We tried to stop him. But all he wanted was for us to be whole again… for Miss Cathy to smile again, like before."
She paused, wiping her tears with trembling hands.
I moved toward her, wanting to hold her, to ease the pain—but she pushed me back, hard.
"I didn't mean to leave… I didn't want to…" I said, voice shaking. "I was just… scared."
Her next words cut through me like a blade.
"Ronnie's dead, Mia. He died."
My heart stopped. "W-what…?"
"He was hit by a car. Jessy found his body…"
She broke down again, sobbing.
"The government shut down the orphanage. Our home. After that day, we couldn't find Miss Cathy. She vanished. Gone—just like you. Kaitlyn ran. Ramley disappeared. Jessy left too."
She looked at me, broken.
"I was the only one left. Alone on the streets. Just… waiting. Hoping Miss Cathy would come back. Praying you would come back. That maybe… somehow… we could all be happy again. Like before."
She paused. Then, slowly, she stood up, wiped her tears, and fixed her eyes on me with a glare so sharp it made my knees weak.
"But all that's gone now. It's buried. Dead. Just like everything else you destroyed," she hissed. Her voice dropped low, trembling with bitterness. "And I'll tell you one damn thing, bitch—I'm going to make your life a living hell."
She stepped forward and, without hesitation, spat on my face. I froze. Her hatred clung to me like a second skin. Then, just like that, she turned and walked out of the room, her footsteps echoing down the hall like the final nails in a coffin.
I stood there for a second… completely numb.
Then I crumbled.
Tears streamed down my face as I fell to my knees. My chest ached—like something inside me had been torn open and left exposed. Her words rang over and over in my head, each one slicing through whatever hope I had left.
Was I really the cause of all this?
Was I the storm that destroyed everything I touched?
I pressed my palms to the floor, trying to breathe, trying to hold myself together. But the weight of guilt, grief, and shame crushed me.
Maybe I was cursed.
Maybe peace was never meant for someone like me.
I dragged myself up slowly, legs trembling beneath me. My body moved, but it felt hollow—like something inside me had been carved out and left to rot. With each step I took out of that room, I felt less human… and more like a shell, haunted by everything I'd buried deep.
Whatever light I had left in me—if there ever was any—was flickering.
And for the first time in a long time, I wasn't just scared.
I could feel it now.
The darkness within me was waking up.
Heavy. Cold. Familiar.
And this time, I wasn't sure I had the strength to silence it.