"You don't understand what I did for you, Aryan. You don't know what I did to protect you. I- I stayed at that house longer than necessary so I could protect you a little longer." Lynne's voice breaks at the end, but she holds her face stoically. "I did everything I could. And I know it wasn't enough." *** Her life is not one of fairy tales or storybooks. It is one of pain. Of loss and grief. But most of all, of sheer misery. Her story is not easy to tell. As life goes everyone has an opinion, everyone has their side to tell. Every story has good and evil. Sometimes that line is blurry though. In Lynne's life evil dominated. It loomed over her head as she works hard to protect her family. Evil broke her bones while she bled. In Lynne's life, you had to work for happiness. For love. There was always a monster ready to make her life living hell. Her father was the first one, he locked her mother up, tortured and manipulated her while abusing her brothers. Even after getting away from him, and leaving her brothers behind, her torture continued. Behind closed doors and heavy locks. For years men tried to break her. Steal the last piece of fire resting in her bones. But they couldn't, no one could. The ice around her heart doesn't break. No one can melt her heart. That was Lynne's way of living, alone. Cold. Lynne was patient for a long time. But sometimes that patience runs out and the consequences follow. Now, Lynne is reunited with her family because of their Father's tragic death. Lynne needs to let her brothers back in her heart after being apart for years. Will she be able to tell them what she has never told a soul? Can Lynne help her brothers after years of abuse? Can she find it within herself to melt the ice around her heart? *** Still rewriting.