She gave a small nod.
“What did she say?”
Sophie swallowed.
“She said I was being dramatic.”
Those words hit harder than anything else.
“Can you show me your back?” I asked gently.
She hesitated…
Then slowly turned around and lifted her shirt.
And the world went white around the edges.
The bruise was worse than I had imagined.
Deep purple, spreading across her lower back, with a dark center shaped exactly like a door handle.
Around it were faint yellow marks.
Older bruises.
Healing ones.
Not a single injury.
A pattern.
She quickly pulled her shirt back down, embarrassed.
“Please don’t yell,” she whispered.
That nearly broke me.
