Serenity's POV
I stand in the stillness of my room, breathing in the newness of myself. The air feels different against my skin—lighter, cleaner, unfiltered by fear. I lift my hand to my throat, fingertips brushing the spot that used to ache whenever I tried to force sound through it. Now, I part my lips and let a few words spill out, quiet but steady. “I am here.” The voice is mine—unbroken, whole, real. It vibrates through me like something reborn. I say it again just to hear it, savoring the way the sound catches nothing, strains nothing. It feels foreign only because it is finally effortless.
My reflection waits for me in the mirror across the room. I step closer. The face that looks back is fixed—unchanged, unshifting. For so long, my features carried that flicker, the unstable shim
