As Nymia walked away from Sara and Jeremiah, she made sure to keep her normal upbeat gait, the pep in her step that let everyone around her know that she was just a fun loving, excitable girl. A defense mechanism that had done her well over the years to keep her family from intruding too deeply, and to keep her dearest friend from seeing too much. But the moment she turned a corner and heard them walking away to go and grab dinner, it left her.

She slowed to a dreary step ...