Selene's POV
As the car drove into the familiar gates of home, a strange, heavy feeling crept over me, that old, suffocating sensation I knew too well. The closer we got to the mansion, the tighter it wrapped around me. It was the same every time. That invisible weight pressing down on my chest, the reminder that here, I wasn't free.
For the past few days, while I was away, I'd felt different, lighter. I could breathe without thinking twice, laugh without feeling like I was being watched, and speak without fear of being corrected. But now, now that the gates had closed behind us, that freedom seemed to fade with every second.
I turned my head slightly, staring out the window. The garden was just as perfect as ever, the trimmed hedges, the roses in neat rows, the marble fountain glistening under the sun. Everything was too perfect, like it was all pretending to be something it wasn't.
