CARMEN
I couldn’t feel my hands.
That was the first thing I noticed.
As I tried to process, the room faded away. The people, the weight of Tim’s arm around me—none of it registered. My body quietly stepped out, overwhelmed.
Physically, I was numb, but my mind was anything but.
It was loud.
My thoughts spun in panic and chaos, loud and relentless.
They all now knew my name.
Not the name Ellen and Frank gave me on the fake passport and driver's license they prepared for me in the bag when I left with the bike that afternoon. No, they knew my real name.
Carmen McCready.
I hadn’t said it. Not here. Not to anyone. I’d been so careful—so careful—to keep that part of me buried, hidden somewhere no one could reach.
So how—
Arthur.
The thought hit hard, fast, and immediately. Paralyzi
