"Let's skip the pleasantries, shall we? You and I both know we're not here for small talk." Darlington sets down his glass of wine and leans on the front of his desk.

I cross my arms and lean against his door. "You took my sister. Where is she?"

He smirks, "The tracker we put in her now tells us she's ours, not yours."

"She's not mine, she's her own person. Stop treating her like an object."

"...

TW: Mentions of self harm, suicide, and related topics

"Sit down Illia," my mother says, "I am going to tell you a story."

I sit down and anxiously ask, "About what?"

"Have you ever heard of humans?"

"Yes! In school!" I look down, "My friends say they're not real though."

"No fairy has ever seen one, but that's not the point of this story. Do you want to know more about these creatures?"...

I've been locked up for 4,490 days, more than seven years, since I was twelve. I never understood why, but today for the first ti? I look down at my pale skin. It's quite obvious I haven't been in the sun I push open the big wooden doors that have always been locked. As I walk out, I sense and feel multiple things:

I feel heat of the sun on my pale skin. I feel the green spikes between my toes, ...

He pushes me up against the wall, his arm across my throat, making it hard to breathe. "Did you take it?" He asks me. "Did you take my wallet?"

I close my eyes contemplating what to say. I can't lie. I've lied too many times already, three to be exact. If I lie one more time, I'll be dead by tomorrow, but if I admit to taking his wallet, I'll be caught and taken to prison.

In the world we live ...