I paced around in the room for 7 hours,and I couldn't escape.I had tried everything and I could tell my sisters were switching places by the door,think Yukina,think,how could I get out of here? The windows were bolted shut, the walls too solid to break through. The only way out was through the door, and that was heavily guarded.

I pressed my forehead against the cold wood, listening. Silence.

No—footsteps. A shift. Someone was on the other side.

An idea sparked. If I couldn’t break my way out… maybe I could make them open the door for me.

I grabbed the candle from my desk, my hands trembling. The wax had dripped down, hardened over the brass holder, but the flame still flickered stubbornly.

Fire.

I set the journal down on the floor and pressed the candle’s flame to one of the older, drier pages near the back. The parchment caught almost instantly, curling at the edges as flames hungrily devoured the inked words.

I stepped back, coughing as the smoke curled upward, thick and acrid. The fire spread, devouring the rug beneath it.

Now I just had to wait.

It took less than a minute before I heard the frantic jingling of keys. Then—

Bang!

The door burst open, and Tifani was there, eyes wide with panic.

"Yukina, what the hell—?!"

I didn’t wait. The moment there was enough space, I shoved past her, barreling into the dimly lit hall.

"Stop her!" Reika 's voice rang out.

I ran.

The corridors twisted before me, familiar yet endless. My lungs burned, my bare feet slamming against the cold marble. I didn’t know where I was going—all I knew was that I had to escape.

Then—

A figure stepped out ahead.

Reika.

She moved fast, too fast. I barely had time to react before she grabbed my wrist again, this time yanking me so hard I almost fell.

"Enough!" she hissed. "You think you can just run away?"

I struggled, twisting against her grip, my nails clawing at her arm. "Let go of me!"

She dragged me forward, down another hall, toward—

A door.

No. Not just any door.

The one from my nightmares.

The one I had never seen open.

My blood turned ice cold.

"Since you’re so desperate to uncover the truth," Reika whispered against my ear, "let’s show you exactly what happened to aunt Sophoneia."

The door groaned as she shoved it open.

Darkness.

A stench filled my nostrils—damp, decayed, something old and rotting.

And then I saw it.

The remnants of a room long abandoned. Dust-covered furniture. Moth-eaten drapes. And in the farthest corner…

Chains. Rusted, broken chains bolted to the wall.

My stomach twisted.

"She never left," Reika murmured, watching my expression. "They say she ran away. That she vanished. But she was here. Locked away until she wasn’t of use anymore."

I turned to face her, horror sinking into my bones. "You—"

And then rage filled me."YOU DID THIS TO HER!"

"We did."Reika laughed."Got away with it because we were children,and now we'll do the same to you,but don't worry Tifani will make sure to mention you to the press as a hero,just like dad and mom did with me,by faking I was dead. Now, Tifani ,come help me with this little brat."

But when Tifani came near me she committed a fatal error,the keys were on her,and while I knew what I did would put me in the same level of horrible as my sisters,I didn't care. Not anymore. Not after everything I've been through.

I lunged, yanking the keys from Tifani’s belt before she even realized what was happening. She gasped, stumbling back, but I was already moving.

I shoved her with all my strength, sending her crashing into Reika. They both tumbled to the floor, cursing and struggling to untangle themselves.

I didn’t hesitate.

I ran for the door, the very one Reika had dragged me to. The one where Aunt Sophoneia had been left to rot.

Reika screamed my name, her voice dripping with fury, but I didn’t turn back.

I stepped inside.

The air was thick with dust, choking, suffocating. The walls felt like they were closing in, like the room itself held onto the echoes of suffering long past. The rusted chains gleamed dully in the dim light.

This was where they had left her.

This was where they had planned to leave me.

A bitter, twisted laugh bubbled up in my throat. My whole life, I had wanted to be better than them. I had clung to the idea that truth, justice, and goodness could triumph. But standing here, I finally understood.

Truth didn’t win.

Power did.

And tonight, I will take it.

Reika and Tifani stormed in behind me. "Yukina, don’t you dare—"

I slammed the door shut.

Locked it.

The key trembled in my fingers as I twisted it, hearing the bolt slide into place.

Reika pounded on the door. "OPEN THIS DOOR, YUKINA!"

"Why?" My voice was calm. Too calm. I turned, looking around the room—the prison they had used before. "This is where you wanted to keep me, right?"

"You don’t know what you’re doing!" Tifani cried, her voice laced with fear now. Real fear.

"Oh, but I do," I murmured. "I know exactly what I’m doing."

My eyes fell on the journal. It had fallen to the floor when I grabbed the keys. Flames still licked at the edges, the fire struggling but not yet consuming it.

A choice.

I bent down, picking up the book.

Reika’s voice dropped, low and dangerous. "Yukina. Don’t."

I met her gaze through the narrow gap between the door and the frame.

Then I tossed the burning journal into the room with them.

The fire caught instantly, the dry, forgotten remnants of the past igniting with a greedy hunger.

Screams.

Reika and Tifani pounded on the door, rattling it, screaming my name.

I turned away.

Walked down the hall.

Smoke curled behind me, thick and dark.

And as I stepped out into the cold night air, I smiled.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t the one trapped.

Everyone has their secrets. Be it that vase you once broke at your grandmother's house and blamed on the cat, or the late-night calls you took in hushed tones, fearing anyone might overhear. Secrets have a way of embedding themselves deep within us, woven into the fabric of our very being. Some secrets are small, fleeting, like the whispered confessions of a child. But others... Others are heavier, like stones lodged in the heart, weighing us down with the burden of their existence. And sometimes … sometimes, secrets consume you whole.

I walked, my steps slow, deliberate, as the fire behind me grew, devouring the past, erasing the evidence of everything I had done. Everything we had done.

A distant part of me whispered that I should feel guilt, that I should turn back, that this—this final act—had sealed my fate as much as theirs. But I silenced that voice.

What did guilt matter when it no longer changed anything?

The night was cool against my skin, the wind carrying the scent of burning paper, wood, and flesh. The house, our home, was falling apart behind me.

And I did not look back.

The truth had never mattered.

Not in this family.

Not in this world.

I had tried to escape it, to fight against it, to be better.

But in the end, I was my parents' daughter.

I was Reika's and Tifani's sister.

I was Argyros' grandniece.

And now, I was the last one left.

I had uncovered every single secret,I heard my sister's yelling by the door,nobody could escape.....And inside inside I heard someone scream,and then silence.

The flames crackled, swallowing their voices, their rage, their fear.

I stood there, staring at the door, at the ashes that had once been my family's legacy. My hands trembled, my breath shallow.

Was this what Aunt Sophoneia had felt? The moment she knew there was no way out?

No. I wouldn’t let this consume me.

I turned, stepping away, the night swallowing me whole.

The last daughter of this house now walks its halls alone. And the house obeys her.

Victory is quieter than I expected. Like the sound of a page turning after everything’s been erased.

They never heard me scream. So I let them scream instead.

 THE END.