The punishment lasted exactly three hours before Sage stopped caring.
Being confined to her room was nothing compared to the years spent locked in dark closets, where the silence itself became a weapon.
She sat cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by her cats and a neglected pile of school forms.
Peach curled warm and heavy against her thigh. Binx claimed the pillow like it was hers by divine right. Mochi perched on the windowsill, tail twitching as he tracked birds outside. The room held an uneasy quiet, broken only by the low rumble of the compound coming alive after sunset.
Music thumped faintly downstairs, punctuated by bursts of rough laughter, shouted arguments, and the sharp crack of pool balls.
Yet Sage felt sealed off from it all, like she was watching everything through th
