She couldn't remember everything clearly, but she used to be the room's punching bag. Just a little girl back then, soft, timid, too kind for her own good. Her roommates saw that as an invitation. They cornered her, mocked her, hit her until her arms and legs were painted with bruises. Every morning, the Sisters scolded her, mistaking her silence for playfulness, insisting she was simply "too playful."
To her, it felt endless. A cycle without escape.
Until that spring.
She was fourteen when the silence shifted. The new girl or rather, not so new anymore, had been in the school for four years. Winter Eckstein. The silent one, the violent one, the one who carried a teddy bear wherever she went. People called her crazy. Deborah called her terrifying.
That afternoon, Winter walked straight up to her. Deborah's instinct was to shrink, to hide her face, to wait for the storm to pass. But Winter only stood there, her eyes cold and sharp, she spoke.
"Every night you go to the monsters to get another part of you eaten… and I am who you run from?"
Before Deborah could answer, Winter dropped something on the chair she had initially been sitting on. A small, black canister. Pepper spray.
"Stop being an idiot for once, would you?" Winter said bluntly, then turned and walked away without another word.
Deborah stared at the can like it was an alien object. Her heart hammered as she hid it under her blanket. And that night, when her roommates closed in again, laughter sharp as knives, she clutched it in trembling hands. For the first time in her life, she fought back.
Screams erupted as her roommates staggered, their faces burning. Chaos consumed the room. She was dragged before the Sisters and scolded harshly for "unruliness," then relocated to another dorm.
But Deborah couldn't stop smiling.
Winter, silent, crazy, unreadable Winter was her salvation. A year younger, yet the only one who guided her, blunt and merciless, but trustworthy. From that day, Deborah made her decision: wherever Winter went, she would follow. Even to the end of time.
---
"So… we're going to the bunker after we leave here?" Deborah asked now, her voice brimming with curiosity.
Winter gave a short nod.
"Then we'll start planning?" she pressed again, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Another nod.
That was enough to set her off. She clapped her hands together and squealed, startling a group of passing students.
"Oh my God, I'm so excited! I'll finally be part of a big-scale operation! I can't be happier! My fingers can't wait either!" she cried, bouncing on her toes like a child promised candy.
Winter only shook her head, calm as ever. She slung her bag over her shoulder, Uncle Giggles secured firmly in her grip, and stepped forward. Deborah practically skipped behind her, her joy radiating in direct contrast to Winter's icy silence.
Together, they left the school. One walking in shadows, the other shining like a restless spark, yet bound together, unbreakable.