The Lie

That night, I held the child in my bloodstained hands and swore.

While this child grew, I would play the part of the perfect Aria.

I would become the woman Kaelan wanted and protect this false paradise.

Since the child was born, time had continued to flow without stopping.

It was around the time Noah began rolling over, babbling, and burrowing into my arms.

While I was bathing him in warm water, the rose fragments attached to my fingernails fell off limply.

The transparent fragments bobbing on the water looked like withered flower petals that had fallen.

I looked down at my wet hand.

The hand where the roses had vanished.

In their place, my real fingernails had begun to grow—uneven and thin...