BETRAYED LUNA, RUTHLESS QUEEN

~~~ Cyra~~~ 

I spent five years paying for a murder I didn't commit… my only crime was loving my boyfriend.

Heavy footsteps echoed down the dark corridor while my eyes remained fixed on the high barred window. I didn't need to turn to know who it was. I'd memorized the rhythm of his walk over the years.

Officer Miller.

The only one I could call a friend in the force, the only person who still looked at me like a real human being. He was also the first to whisper the good news through the bars at dawn.

"Cyra." His gruff voice broke the silence as he stopped in front of my cell. The click of his keys echoed against the iron bars. My body went rigid, the way it always did, before some part of me remembered, this time it didn't mean lockdown. It meant freedom.

"It's time," he said.

I already knew. And instead of feeling happy, I felt numb, unsure what to feel even after years of praying for this exact day.

I sighed and pulled myself away from the cold wall I'd curled myself against, dragging my eyes from the window to him. "Yes. I know."

"The paperwork's finalized. All that's left is your signature." He paused, studying my expression. "Then you can go."

Go? I almost laughed.

"Go where?" I asked flatly.

His smile faltered, because we both knew it wasn't really a question. My family had disowned me. The city still called me a killer. No home. No money. No one waiting outside to welcome me back in open arms.

"I don't think I want to leave," I muttered. "And I'm sure the city doesn't want me either."

He stepped closer. "You're still young. You've got time to make things right." Footsteps sounded in the hallway, so he waited for them to fade before continuing. "And if the city doesn't want you back, you can get the truth and make them want you again."

For the first time in five years, I felt something in my chest. "Do you believe I was innocent?"

Silence.

"We can't keep the warden waiting." He changed the subject, stepping back. "Let's go."

I nodded. What was I expecting from him? No one ever gave me the answer I wanted anymore, just a flat, cold "no." But Officer Miller would rather give me silence than that.

My legs gave out on the first attempt, so he lent me his hand, and that was how I finally made it out of the cell, one shaking step at a time. I took one last look at the room, the tin mattress, the patched walls, the window I'd stared through for five years, wondering what the world looked like without me in it.

He clicked the gate shut behind us, and I followed him toward the warden station.

"Cyra, Cyra." My sister's voice, unmistakable, calling from somewhere behind me.

I glanced back to see her, Tessa, and beside her, our mother, dressed like they were headed somewhere important. A lump rose in my throat. I swallowed it and kept walking until I reached the front desk, where a woman signed me out in under a minute.

"Congratulations, you're free," she said.

I turned to Officer Miller, not knowing what else to do.

"Come here." He opened his arms.

I stiffened the moment his arm touched my shoulder. My whole body locked up instantly, some old instinct screaming at me to pull away.

Could I really be blamed? Five years without physical touch, except when it came with cuffs or a shove through a door. I'd forgotten what a hand on my back was supposed to feel like when it didn't come with a warning first.

He must have felt it, because he let go faster than he meant to, clearing his throat.

"Sorry," he said. "I forgot."

"It's fine," I said, even though it wasn't. There was just no better answer for what it actually was.

"Stay safe, Cyra." Like a final goodbye.

Because that's exactly what it was.

"Thank you," I said, not knowing how else to answer five years folded into two words.

I walked out without sparing my mum or sister a glance. I wasn't ready for them.

"Cyra," my sister called, coming after me.

"My dear." My mum's voice followed, gentler, like she thought I might shatter if she said it any louder.

My feet stopped before I told them to. If I turned around, saw their faces dressed like this was a reunion instead of a debt they'd never paid, I wasn't sure I'd trust my own reaction. Just the thought of it threatened to unravel every emotion I'd kept locked down for years. So I balled my hands into fists, nails biting my palms, and kept walking until I stepped through the gates.

The cool city breeze hit me like a stranger's welcome, and my body flinched from it.

"Freedom at last," I whispered, the words bitter in my mouth.

I turned to look at the sign one last time. Blackridge State Prison. Proof this part was over. I sighed and kept walking, shoulders still drawn up near my ears, my mind circling back to my mum and sister behind me, the audacity of them showing up after all this silence.

I was so lost in it I didn't notice I'd wandered into the middle of the road, until someone cried out in pain.

A young boy struggled to get back on his feet. An angry-looking woman rushed toward him.

"Mark! Come here, you little brat!"

Mark?

Something flickered in my mind. My chest twisted, like the name alone had knocked the air out of me. A name I hadn't let myself whisper in five years, and now it felt like he was standing right there, wearing a stranger's face.

"Ahh…" I gasped, my hand flying to my head, as if I could block out the voices starting to echo.

A horn blared. Someone screamed, pulling me out of it for a moment.

I looked up to see a car speeding toward me. The onlookers screamed louder, but my legs wouldn't move.

So this is how it ends, I thought. Maybe this is my fate after all. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.

A hand came out of nowhere, grasping my shoulder, yanking me back with enough force that we both crashed onto the pavement, him flat on his back, me on top of him, both of us breathless.

Neither of us moved.

"Cyra?!" My sister's scream.

I turned my head just enough to see them, my mother and Tessa, running toward me. My eyes were already closing, the crowd swelling louder, when a stranger's voice cut through it all.

"The young man is bleeding! Somebody call an ambulance, hurry!"

And then everything went blank.