Chapter One: Released

"Take your pills now before I make you.”

The nurse's voice cracked across my tiny room like a whip. For the third time.

I did not flinch.

I only lifted my eyes to her. Dark bags hung under them, and my lids felt so heavy it seemed someone had tied weights to my lashes. My curly hair had turned into a tangled mess because I had not combed it in months. Somewhere along the way, I had lost all hope of living, and I no longer bothered to hide it.

I knew exactly what those pills did. They would make me sleepy, and when I wake up, my mind would be foggy and my body sluggish, like I was moving through water.

That was why I had always resisted taking them. But not taking them was trouble, and that's one thing I was trying to avoid.

My shaky hands reached for the tray and I swallowed them quietly. The nurse stared at me suspiciously, as if checking if I had truly swallowed it, so I had to open my mouth. Only then did she turn and walk out of the room.

I stared at the shut door until my eyes stung. My room was the smallest in the building and had no window. They had taken my bed away as punishment for attacking a nurse many months ago, so all I had left was the thin mat on the floor.

My fingers searched my neck for the pendant on my necklace without me even thinking about it and closed around it tightly. I held on and hoped for a miracle, that my family would simply appear and take me away from this place. Or even if it was just my brother. I did not want to lose faith, but it was growing thin each day.

Every day, I questioned whether I was right to still call those people my family. They had thrown me here to bury the truth of what happened, and not once had they come to check on me. I had not even expected them to. But I had believed my brother would be different.

Three years had passed already, or more, because I had stopped counting a long time ago.

I fell onto my side and stared at the wall. Tears swelled in my eyes and ran sideways across my nose as my mind drifted back to the past. I was still lost in my thoughts when I heard the sound of many footsteps heading toward my door.

My whole body went on alert. My breath shortened, and I went completely still.

That was the sound I always heard before they dragged me to the discipline room, where I was taken and beaten with whips.

I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in them as silent sobs slipped out of me in fear. The door opened, and I jerked backward, lifting my head to see familiar faces filing into the room. My heart pounded as I waited for them to announce my offense before dragging me away, but I noticed the scary guard was not with them.

They stood there a second too long. Then the master turned to the female guard.

"Remove the cuffs from her legs," he ordered, and the woman stepped forward at once.

My brows pulled together as I watched. The cold metal was removed from my ankle, and I stared down at the red marks, unable to understand what was going on. The master looked at me, and I could tell I looked more miserable than the last time he had seen me.

"You have been released, Ms. Nadya. Clean yourself up and get your things at the desk."

My heart skipped.

What?

I tried to speak, but the words never made it past my throat. By then they had all turned and left the room, and the door stayed open behind them. I sat there staring at it, afraid it would close again if I blinked. Why now, so suddenly?

Or had Fillip finally remembered me?

I tried to stand, but my legs ached and pain shot through my whole body. My knees cracked as I used the wall to pull myself upright. I did not bother fixing my appearance. I walked out of the room limping, one hand on the wall for support, and with every step the hope in me grew louder than the pain.

When I reached the desk, I was handed a paper to sign.

My hand shook over the line, and the letters blurred as I signed under my name. Every emotion I had buried for years came rushing through me at once, because I could not believe this was really happening.

When my belongings were handed over, I looked up at the guard behind the desk. "M-My brother?"

He looked at me as though he were annoyed I had spoken at all. He frowned deeply. "Your brother what?"

My heart began to pound. I leaned against the desk to take the weight off my cramped feet.

"Was he the one who arranged my release?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

He stared at me for a moment. "You were released because the victim's family dropped the charges against you. Now leave," he said dismissively.

I should have felt something at the words victim's family. But all I heard was one hopeful thought. Had my brother found a way to get me out? Was that why he had not come to visit me all these years, because he was busy? Maybe I had not been forgotten as easily as I believed. My chest tightened, and tears pooled in my eyes again.

I changed out of the uniform and into a hoodie and sweatpants, tucked my hair under a knit beanie, and picked up my bag on my left side. Then I limped out of the building.

The air hit my face. I had forgotten what it felt like to breathe outside those walls. I swallowed hard and forced myself to keep walking.

I took a taxi home, gripping my bag in my lap and hoping someone there would pay the fare. The gate guard did, and even he was surprised to see me. A small smile broke across my lips as he welcomed me with a smile of his own.

I walked into the house, and a heavy wave of nostalgia washed over me. But what greeted me was not what I expected.

The entire house had been decorated. I stopped, slightly taken aback. None of my family was in sight, so I stood there, lost in the view. A woman I did not recognize was giving orders to the staff about how to arrange the flowers hung along the stair railing.

My gaze moved around the room, and then a voice came from the side, and I saw my brother directing a maid who carried silverware toward the dining room.

The moment I saw him, I forgot everything that had happened over the years.

"Fillip!" my voice had never been this loud.

He turned at the sound of my voice, and the color drained from his face. His lips parted, but nothing came out. The maid stopped beside him too, equally shocked.

The moment our eyes met, my vision blurred. I forgot the pain in my legs and hurried toward him.

I nearly slipped halfway there, but he was already beside me, caught me by my waist. His cologne filled my nose, and I remembered how badly I had missed it.

I looked up as he steadied me. “N-Nadya,” he stuttered, as if he was still trying to digest the fact that I was here.

"Brother," I whispered, my face crumpling and I wrapped my arms around him. "Please, do not ever leave me again. I do not want to go back there." I wept bitterly against his chest.