Chapter 2: Losing Myself in His Shadow

He broke my wings. Snapped them to the bone. Made me fall, deep into the muck, following him like a dog for five years. I remember thinking: How did I get here?

He didn’t even have to try. It happened slow—then all at once. One day, I was myself; the next, I was orbiting him, desperate for any scrap of attention. I lost track of who I was outside of his shadow. Like I’d blinked and everything changed.

He made it so I couldn’t love anyone else, like he’d tattooed his name somewhere deep inside me—where I couldn’t scrub it off, no matter how hard I tried.

I tried to fight it at first. Told myself I’d never be that girl. But Carter was relentless, and I was lonely in ways I didn’t even understand. His name became a scar I carried everywhere. But I lost.

And then, five years later, he told me he was bored. Just like that.

It was so casual, so final. Like he was talking about a TV show he’d stopped watching. One of those things you can never take back, no matter how much you want to.

For a long time, Carter was my nightmare.

He haunted my sleep and my waking hours. Some nights I’d wake up gasping, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, heart racing like I’d been running for miles. I’d tell myself it was over, that I was safe now—but it never really was. Not really.