Tell Me What I Am

“I had been gone fourteen years.”

Nessa stayed away for years to protect herself. She still feels every single absence. It proves you can save your life and still lose your world.

“She was a ghost in our house.”

Deena has to piece together her own mother from whispers. She lives in a house full of missing things. Her memory is just a collection of other people's secrets.

“Plants do not lie. They just grow or die.”

The way Ruby keeps her garden says everything about her grief. She pulls weeds to stay sane. It is the only thing she can control while her family falls apart.

“The truth was a heavy stone in everyone’s pocket.”

Small towns use silence as a weapon. Everyone knows what happened to Deena’s mom. Nobody wants to be the one to say it out loud.