May 4, 2025
Fredericksburg, Virginia

I am Eleanor Caldwell.

I am twenty-three years old.

I am promised to Thomas Everett.

Dear God, let me remember. Let me remain myself.

I must—

A long drag across the page, ink thickening where Eleanor’s hand had finally stopped moving.

Amelia closed the journal.

She’d been awake since two. No nightmares, no sudden noise from the street. Just the slow, grinding awareness that her body had made a decision without consulting her. Her eyes had op...