Born Again to Fight

rning, I wa

he breakfast table, p

shley chirped, he

a greeting,

, keeping my voice even,

her stomach, a fleeti

he said. "Lots of col

r tired," E

both seem a little off. Maybe you

k of alarm before her mask was back i

ed, avoidi

ready pregna

I' d been oblivious u

igns. The slight queasiness,

were out, supposedly at t

Small, discreet

e living room, one for Ashl

I typed in my cr

t wrong,

choice di

ves, destroyed our repu

s self-

d two days later i

The girls were a

rf

ickly, met

bookshelf in the living r

the stuffed animals

ly' s desk, disguis

necting to the liv

ture. Cle

de a show

I called up the stairs, though I knew they were

a few blocks away, my p

it

mach c

f this was all just a horri

the fire, the pain

e buzzed. Motion detec

y and

ghing, loungi

rm

ed her head on A

troked h

eath

timacy that g

han si

conversati

t," Ashley said, her

k?" Emily whispered. "What

Mark' s a non-issue. They' ll believe us.

od ran

ng about the pl

ey' s room activat

pounding, as they

vous. Ashley was

ood up, unbutto

d. I almost dr

hl

ha

genit

y fo

the light. It wasn'

ssigned female at birth, the gi

ale, at least in t

nd re

didn' t

ption a

d to click into p

regna

sn' t

't have b

as A