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Episode Two: The Woman Who Was Chosen…

CHAPTER 1

Azaria Wells-Laveau

“Running From Myself.”

Ihad been walking all day. Not because I had somewhere to go, but because stopping meant thinking. And thinking always got loud. The city felt like it was breathing down my neck, every sound too sharp, every shadow stretching too long. I stayed moving so the noise in my head would stay behind me.

I didn’t have a home anymore.

I had an old apartment building off a street nobody paid attention to. I didn’t live there anymore, not since the eviction notice got taped to the door like a warning sign. But behind it, in the alley, there was a spot that stayed dry. Cracked concrete, a broken crate, and a wall that blocked the wind. It wasn’t safe, but it was familiar.

Familiarity counted for something.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I almost dropped it. I stared at the screen.

Mom.

I hadn’t spoken to her in weeks. Months maybe. Time didn’t move right for me anymore.

I answered anyway.

“Azaria,” she said. Her voice sounded tight. “Where are you? How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I said automatically.

“You’re not fine. I need you to come home and get help. Your father did all he could to protect you from your abuser. He’s gone.”

I laughed. Not because it was funny, but because it was absurd. Home. Like that word still meant something we shared.

“I’m not going back,” I said. “You know that.”

“You can’t keep living like this,” she said. “Things have to change.”

I stopped walking and leaned against the side of a closed storefront. My legs were tired. My bones felt hollow.

“Change into what?” I asked. “Someone you’re not ashamed of?”

She went quiet for a second. That was answer enough.

She sighed. “If you don’t come on your own, I’ll send your brother.”

That hit harder than anything else she could have said.

I straightened up. “Don’t do that.”

“He’s worried about you,” she said.

“I know,” I snapped. “That’s why you leave him out of this.”

“I’m sending him to get you. That’s final.”

I closed my eyes. I could see my brother’s face in my head. Disappointed. Tired. Still trying to save me when I didn’t even know how to save myself.

“Don’t send anyone,” I said. “I swear I’ll shoot them.”

There was a pause. “You can’t threaten me and expect me to do nothing.”