Chapter 184: Young Mara

I felt like the floor was slipping away and I was falling into a bottomless pit. Only this time, it wasn't a vision. This was my life. This was real.

Part of me wished I didn't know so that I didn't have to traverse this emotional shitstorm. How do you even move on from something like this? How do you continue your life when you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie?

"Are you mad at me?" Aunt Mara asked softly, her voice trembling with uncertainty.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks. I was mad, but at the same time, I wasn't. Not at her at least, so I shook my head. "I just wish someone had told me," I said, my voice soft and defeated. "If I had just known the truth, it probably would have made my life so much easier."

"Would it though?" Aunt Mara asked seriously, her eyes searching mine.

I considered this for a moment. In some ways, it definitely would have made things easier, but in other ways, probably not. I had always FELT like an outsider, but KNOWING I was an ou