‘They have no right,’ screamed my internal voice. ‘I deserved my happiness and they took it from me!’


    It went on for days. I barely slept. The anger and depression wrapped around mepletely. My


    dreams were full of nk desperation. When I was awake I saw the world as a deste ce.


    By the third day, I didn’t bother to hide it. I couldn’t have if I tried. My fake Masters dropped me at the


    Keepers and Iy down on the ground just inside thepound wall. Tears leaked out of my eyes


    continuously and I stared ahead not seeing anything.


    Rose talked to me and Fuji begged me to get up and move around, but I couldn’t understand them. I


    lay defeated all day long wherever the Keepers put me. The lunch bell rang and I didn’t move. Men


    came and went in front of me, but my mind was gone.


    The desert that had be my thoughts was quiet suddenly. I felt broken and used, but the crushing


    weight of sadness had Lifted.


    I looked around and I was at home in thepound. There were no memories of getting here. Last I


    remembered I had been crying at the Keepers on the ground. It made no sense.


    I sat up slowly on the bed and heard my fake owners talking to the Healers. The Healers told them I


    was past repair. Perhaps it had something to do with the stomach. I would not be of use to anyone


    anymore.


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    All was silent as I considered what they had said. I bolted out of bed when I realized. A ve with no


    use would not be kept. They would kill me and kill the child.


    ninjanovel


    “Masters, may I clean the apartment?” I called to them straightening the covers on the bed and


    stumbling around.


    As the Healers watched, I tidied the apartment and tried to act normal.


    The men stopped me and the Healers examined me.


    “It seems better,” the Healers said disbelieving. “This makes no sense.”


    Yes, I had to agree. Nothing made sense anymore. My mother had talked about my cousin with the


    mental illness. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing that came and went. I had no idea what was wrong


    with me.


    At the Keepers the next day, Rose and Fuji greeted me with hugs.


    “We feared for you,” Rose said with tears streaking her face. “They took you home two day cycles ago


    and you didn’te back. Our owners went to see yours, they saw you on the bed. You wouldn’t move


    or eat.”


    “My owners said the only time they had seen something like you was when a man’s bond was broken,”


    Fuji said seriously.