Chapter 4

I thrashed against them. "Have you all lost your minds?"

Mom pinned my arm down. "Alina, just bear with it for Faye's sake. If she knows where you are, she will not have episodes."

Dad pressed my shoulders flat. "As long as you stay by Faye's side every day, this thing will not make any difference."

Kellan clenched his jaw and tightened his grip. "Alina, it will be over soon. Just bear with it for Faye."

Bear with it.

That was what they told me when they forced me to give up the top prep school.

It was what they told me when they forced me to give up the national art institute.

Now they wanted to turn me into Faye's pet, chained to her side, and they were still telling me to bear with it.

The needle broke the skin, and I stopped struggling.

I stared at my parents' faces, twisted and determined, and a memory surfaced from when I was small.

Back then, when I was afraid of needles, they held me in their arms and promised it would not hurt. Dad spoke to me in a gentle voice. Mom stood beside us with tears in her eyes.

Now they were the ones holding me down.

When the injection was done, Mom let out a long, heavy breath, as though the family had finally dealt with a problem that had been plaguing them.

Dad took my ID, my passport, and my personal records, sealed them in a folder, and handed everything to Faye. "Let Faye hold onto these. It will put her mind at ease."

Faye clutched the folder to her chest. "From now on, wherever you go, I will be right there with you."

I looked down at the wound on my arm. Blood was still seeping through.

I let out a quiet laugh. "Okay."

Mom's expression softened. "Good. I am glad you have come around."

Kellan smiled and reached over to pat my head. "I will treat you even better from now on."

I did not say anything.

Back in my room, the red light on the camera kept blinking in the corner of my vision. Mom's voice drifted in from the living room. "Feel better now?"

Faye smiled and nodded.

That night, I did what I always did. I sat with her and coaxed her to sleep. She pointed at the camera and grinned at me. "I will be watching you all the time, you know."

I did not answer. I sat beside her until she fell asleep.

At 2:00 a.m., I slid my hand under her pillow and found the key. I opened the cabinet, stuffed my documents into my bag, and went back to my room.

I arranged pillows under the blanket to look like a body. Then I took a small knife and reopened the wound that had not yet healed, and dug the tracking chip out.

The obedient, well‑behaved "Alina" they wanted so badly, I left behind for them. Then I put my bag on my back and slipped out of the house without a sound.

The plane climbed through the clouds. I watched the city shrink beneath me, smaller and smaller, until it disappeared.

I finally let myself breathe.

My life did not have to make way for anyone else anymore.