Ellie clenched her fist, forcing herself to calm down, and her breath steady.
"I am not her," she whispered, and shut her eyes closed, "I will never be her."
The version of herself on the couch tilted her head, the cigarette burning down to the filter. "Why do you hate me so much?" her mother, voice laced with sorrow and hurt.
"You know, I read something somewhere. What was it?" she touched her chin, thinking, her brows furrowing. Then, her lips curled into a smirk. "Ah yes…Hatred can eat you until there's nothing left, until you become the thing you hate." She laughed, a hollow, humorless sound, as if mocking her very existence.
Ellie gritted her teeth. "No."
She stepped forward, shoving past the suffocating memories, past the doubt that gnawed at her mind.
"I made it out," she said, voice stronger now. "I survived. And I'll do it again if I have to. "
