Between Bruises & Blooms

Leroi thought
he was rescuing
a girl.

Poor man.

He opened
a basement door

expecting something
fragile.

Someone trembling.

Something frightened
he could carry
into daylight
and teach
how to live again.

Instead,

Seraphine
walked out.

Not harmless.

Not innocent
in the pretty,
comfortable way
people like
their victims to be.

They had hurt her.

Used her.

Made a weapon
out of a girl

and then acted surprised
when the blade
learned to enjoy
being sharp.

She did not leave
the darkness
behind
when she escaped.

She brought it
with her.

Carried it
inside her mouth.

Behind her eyes.

In hands
that had already
learned exactly
what bodies
could survive.

And Leroi—

this dangerous man
who should have known
better—

looked at the chaos
he brought home

and thought

I can tame her.

Sir.

That was
your first mistake.

Some women
do not need
to be tamed.

They need
to learn
that the cage
is finally open.

That they can choose
where the knife points now.

That survival
does not have
to look pretty.

Maybe Seraphine
was never
the monster
they made her.

Maybe she was simply
what happened

when the thing
inside the basement

finally learned

the door
was unlocked.