Chapter 17 - A Clean Slate
Across the room, a young woman with a terrible, jagged scar across her cheek nervously approached her own painting.
She was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, clearly uncomfortable with the bright lights and the crowd. She hesitated, her hands trembling slightly as she looked at the vibrant, beautiful canvas she had created from her pain.
I watched as she took a deep breath, slowly reached up, and removed the sunglasses. She looked at her art, completely exposed to the light, and a slow, beautiful smile broke across her face.
I smiled back, taking a sip of my water.
Daniel and Vivian Cross had tried to break me. They had looked at my simple clothes and my quiet life, and they had tried to make me feel dirty, small, and powerless.
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Instead, they had handed me the exact tools and evidence I needed to clean my life of them completely. They had burned away the naive girl I used to be, leaving behind a woman forged in fire and absolutely incapable of being broken.
The disinfectant hadn't blinded me. It had finally forced me to see the world clearly.
