Chapter 157

The next day, Zara was sitting in her chair, looking out the bedroom window. She hadn't left her room all day. Her bandage had fallen off, and she saw the wounds for the first time in the mirror. The scar was in a place that once her hair grew back, it would cover, but right now, with her head shaved, she felt like a monster. 

Michael walked in, seeing her head uncovered, asking, "Zara, what happened to the bandage?" 

She pointed at the floor, and he went over picking it up, followed by seeing the hurt in her eyes. "Do you want me to wrap it back up? You can't leave it open like that; it will get infected." 

Without a response, he grabbed fresh bandages and tried to help her. She shoved his hand away when he noticed she had been crying.

She wrote on her new dry erase board. "Ugly. Monster."   

Michael pulled her chair over by the bed so he could look her in the eyes as he sat. She wouldn't look at him, so he raised her chin to face him.