Chasing Adrianna

the trees, rattling the branches as though the forest itself was mourning with her. But no one in the camp cared. No one noticed. She was just

red or sick. No one cared that her hands were blistered from constant work, that her stomach growled so loudly it kep

ire, laughing, talking, their voices carrying easily through the air. But they never spoke to her. They never looked at

love was a lie. She had been thrown into the world alone, unloved, unwanted-and t

she had ever

unds of the other children in the camp, their laughter echoing through the trees. They had families, they had connections,

crack-and then she would b

broke through

leader, his voice laced with irritat

hought she could be useful, though his expectations were never kind. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. She would do the work, endure th

ned and walked away, his footsteps heavy on the

them, she was invisible-a shadow that worked and kept qui

wasn

didn't

ewood deep in the forest. She wasn't allowed to show weakness. She wasn't allowed to complain. In the eyes of the rogues, sh

hope she had once felt were long extinguished, snuffed out by the constant neglect and isolation. She was

ch like the people who surrounded her. She did

the silence of the trees, that she felt the most alone. The weight of abandonment hung heavily in the air, and she often wondered

er to the world of family and love. But that connection had been severed the moment he had spiraled into madness. H

e about her. No one did. She was just a shadow

-a fleeting sensation that almost felt like grief. She shoved it down. She had no t

ered remnants of a heart that had long since turned to stone. It was the only

once, and it would do so

s no place for softness here, no room for warmth or affection. She didn't

d, through the silence, her heart locked away. The wa

would sta

re

he heard a