Chapter 58

"I have a mark," I say, releasing your fingers and getting on your knees in bed. I open the zipper on my back with the same difficulty it was to close it. I take my hands to the two hooks of my bra and unbutton it. I hold my breasts with my hands, knowing that I can't cover them completely. I leave the mark on my left breast well showing it. “I was marked as an animal.

With his mouth open and his eyes shining, Henry observes the round mark above my fingers.

"That's why I hate being touched. Mostly unknown. If that happens, I feel like my scars are alive. I still don't know what happened tonight, but I feel, since dinner at my house, that something is not right inside my head.

Henry seems to breathe with difficulty as he looks from the mark on my breast to my face. Tears run hot down my cheeks and accumulate below my jaw, but my lips stretch into a smile. Not an insane or forced smile. I'm smiling because for the first time in weeks, I feel light. It's as if I felt