Brother, Please Stop Punishing Me

Lila was born to privilege, raised on her brother's love. Spoiled, unguarded, loving and hating without restraint. Then came Crestview. Four years of pack bullying. Death threats. Nights spent shivering in an abandoned classroom, eating from trash bins. She swallowed pills more than once, and each time she crawled back because her brother was still in prison. Until the day she heard his voice. Free. Unbroken. No prison. No bankruptcy. All of it a lie, punishment for a single slap. The truth didn't kill her. The years did. Every wound, every hunger, every trembling night, all real, all beyond repair. She refused his apology. Refused the life he tried to return. Her final act was hers alone. And as she watched him drown in guilt from beyond, one question remained: Can a lifetime of suffering ever be undone by a single "I'm sorry"?