Underneath the Sycamore Tree

It happened in stages.⁣ My father left.⁣ My twin sister died of an incurable autoimmune disease.⁣ My mother started breaking down.⁣ Then I was diagnosed with the very thing that took my other half from me.⁣ That was when I realized Mama’s eyes turned gold when she cried.⁣ So I moved in with my father and his new family—new wife, new son, new stepbrother.⁣ Kaiden Monroe made me feel normal.⁣ Hated. Cared for. Loathed. And … loved.⁣ Somewhere along the way, I’d found solace in the boy with brooding eyes.⁣ But everything happens in stages.⁣ And nothing good ever lasts.⁣