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heart a year ago.
     
    Grace may have been the last to see him, but I was the one who woke up the next day and was relieved to find that I was alone in my bed. Miles had left for work as usual. Like everything was normal. Poor Grace was curled in a ball in the darkest corner of the stage, not even crying, just whimpering. She stayed like that for a long time too. Even when I told her we were safe.
    Miles had locked the bedroom door, probably told the staff that I wasn’t to be disturbed all day. He’d done that before. Locked us away, no food, no care. It was perfect for me, perfect for my plan. I wasn’t going to wait around for him to return.
    The night before, the stage shaking with Grace’s screams, I knew I’d have to follow my plan. One I kept to myself while I held the littlest ones, Baby and Lilly. Jill wouldn’t join us, but stayed close in the corner, covering her ears during the loudest screams.
    The doctors Miles made us visit said we should try to merge our existences and memories into one identity. That we could be whole again and healed if we embraced all five memories as one. All bullshit. That memory, of Miles torturing Grace that night, we all shared, each in our own way. We didn’t leave her alone, but we were helpless to save her.
    I wasn’t helpless that next morning though. I acted quickly. I remember how the sheet stuck to my back, from crusts of blood dried overnight. I didn’t wince as I tore free though. I was used to that treatment from him, although he usually didn’t break the skin. It wasn’t pain that I relished like with Simon, but I could take it.
    I washed the wounds the bastard made and smiled that he’d left my face alone as usual. He’d learned from Mother that beatings should be able to be hidden. It worked in my favor that day. I got us away. I got us enough money to hide and to live free from him.
    The years before became a blur, a white hot steam that fueled me and blinded me to anything except my plan to escape. That last year with just Miles as our guardian was the hardest in a long line of hard years, but I didn’t linger on those memories.
    Miles pushed us to be what he wanted, what we’d never be able to be. Without the threat from my Mother or his Father, Miles was free to let his more sadistic side out that last year together. But he was never as cruel as he was that last night. At least not with Grace.
    We had to get away and I had to be the one to do it. I used all of the pain and fear I’d felt over the last two years with Miles to fuel my escape from him. And I didn’t let the others know my plan until it was too late to stop me.
    On the bus ride to Sacramento, I explained it to them. I explained how we’d each have our time on the stage. How no one would ever tell us what to do again. How we’d take care of each other and we’d be okay. And no one would hurt us. No one would ever lock us in a lonely room again. I didn’t show the fear I felt at being alone. I knew we all felt the same fear.
    That was before we met Simon. We never imagined meeting someone like him. Someone who could accept us as we are. His arm is loose around my waist, but I lean in so I can feel his warmth more. He smiles down on me, both of us lost in each other before his attention is given back to Cary.
    I haven’t told him anything. We all agree that sharing our past is off limits, even with him. But he’s been surprisingly accepting of this too.
    He treats each of us as individuals. And as much as it pains me to think, I’m sure he’s become fond of each of us in our own ways too. Although he doesn’t know our names. We’ve never told anyone, not even Mother, our names. But Simon has gotten to know all of us.
    Baby secretly calls him Daddy. He buys her licorice and art supplies. He frames the pictures she makes for him. He even displays them proudly in his room and the hallways. He has breakfast each morning with her in private. We’ve smiled watching them. Her laughter