Chapter 1

Everyone was terrified by how unhinged she looked, and the entire house went dead silent.

I knelt on the floor, every stunned stare in the room boring into me until I wanted to disappear. Mom pried my hands off her. The way she looked at me wasn't how anyone looks at a daughter, but at a project, a puppet.

"Are you going in or not?"

The smile at the corner of her mouth made my blood run cold. "If you don't, I'll call the admissions office as your legal guardian and have your enrollment revoked. Good luck getting into college then."

My whole body went rigid. This was my only chance to escape this house, and I couldn't lose it. Everything in me shifted from begging to despair. "I'll go."

Off to the side, Scott Jennings, our class president, swallowed hard and couldn't help speaking up. "Ma'am, what Phoebe has is a real psychological condition. You can't just power through something like this. She should be avoiding triggers, not being forced into them."

That only made Mom angrier. She landed a hard kick square in my lower back.

"You shameless little brat. How dare you let everyone see what a worthless waste you are!"

Pain radiated up my spine, and the humiliation cut even deeper. She turned to Scott.

"Phoebe doesn't have a condition. She's a coward. It's weakness, plain and simple, and she's going to overcome it. End of discussion."

Scott went quiet, and only then did Mom turn her cold gaze back to me.

"Get in there. Make a single sound, and you can forget about college."

I clenched my jaw and inched my way inside, watching in despair as the door locked behind me. Darkness and terror swallowed me whole.

Mom had spared no expense building this room. Not a sliver of light or whisper of sound could get in. The only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat.

I curled up on the floor, drenched in cold sweat, tearing at my own hair as tears fell one by one. But I didn't dare make a sound.

A surveillance camera with a blinking red light was mounted above me, and she was watching from outside. All I could do was bite down on my hand hard enough to draw blood, too afraid to let go.

When the half hour was up, the door was thrown open. Classmates, relatives, even teachers stood outside, all staring at me with expressions I couldn't read.

Only then did a smile appear on Mom's face, a proud one. "Very good. Not a single sound. See? I told you she was just being dramatic. All she needed was desensitization."

My hair was soaked through with cold sweat. When I stumbled out, I caught sight of the boy in the crowd who had said he'd go to college with me. He took half a step back.

I closed my eyes. Whatever shred of dignity I had left was gone.

The party went on as planned. Mom floated between guests like nothing had happened, even sharing her "parenting tips." I trailed behind her, completely numb. I refused to see the judgment, the pity, or the disgust in anyone's eyes.

After the party ended and everyone left, it was just Mom and me. She pulled up the surveillance footage from the dark room and played it on the big screen.

"You didn't scream, but there's still room for improvement. Everyone was watching you out there. Don't embarrass me like that next time."

Every muscle in my back locked up.

"I understand, Mom," I said, my voice raw.

Only then did she reach out and pat my head. "That's my good girl."

A shudder ran through me. The moment she left, my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor, both fists clenched so tight my knuckles went white.

That was when Dad walked through the front door. He glanced at me on the floor like it was nothing new, his expression unreadable. "Pheebs, your mother... She actually..."

He trailed off. In the end, he said nothing at all and turned and walked away.

I curled up on the floor, tears falling in the silence. Everything inside me felt hollow.