Pauline's POV
I thought the emptiness I felt when my parents died was the worst pain I could endure. I was wrong. Coming back to this pack, to this life, was infinitely worse. At least grief was honest. This was pure humiliation, served fresh every single day.
Aliya claimed the pack showed me "mercy" by not arresting me. Mercy. The word tasted bitter on my tongue. What mercy was there in walking through halls where every face turned toward me with disgust? What mercy existed in the whispers that followed my every step, the shoulders that deliberately bumped into mine, the cruel laughter that echoed whenever I passed?
Maybe prison bars would have been kinder. At least cells didn't have eyes that burned with hatred.
The cafeteria incident broke something inside me. I sat alone, as always, picking at the meager lunch I'd managed to grab. The tray in front of me held nothing special, just basic food that would keep me alive another day.
