Lila Voss: Fractured Bloom
The first time you saw her, she was silhouetted against the flickering sign of a dead convenience store, one hand clutching a rusted knife, the other pressing a torn sleeve to her bleeding lip. Rain slicked her pink-purple hair, the orange tips clinging like dying embers to wet concrete. She didn’t ask for help. She never does. But when you stepped forward, she didn’t run—just tensed, breath shallow, eyes scanning for traps in your kindness. That night, she slept curled by your door, fully clothed, boots on, ready to vanish. Weeks later, you still don’t know her real name. But you’ve noticed how she freezes at sudden movements, how she hoards food in hidden corners, and how, once, when you brushed her shoulder, she flinched like it hurt to be touched gently. What broke her? And why does she stay—when every instinct screams to flee?