FAT, BARREN, AND REJECTED
A man I didn’t recognize entered first, followed by a second, both dressed in the same dark uniform the guards outside wore, though these two carried themselves with a stiffness that suggested rank rather than simple duty.
“State your full name,” the first one said, taking the empty chair across from me without preamble. “The real one. Not whatever you’ve been calling yourself since you arrived.”
“Ella.” I made myself say it plainly, without flinching, though some small part of me had hoped I’d never have to say it inside these walls at all. “Ella Hawkson. Formerly Ella Whitmore, before my marriage.”
He wrote it down without comment. “And you arrived here claiming to be Chloe Whitmore.”