I no longer spoke. I only advanced while she defended and attacked with skill. I was panting, and my brain only absorbed her eyes staring at me, seeing my weakness, my defeat.
“Are you going to lose again, Valentina? They will win, and you will have to beg, doll!”
I knew what she was doing. She was acting like them so I would understand that they were the ones I was fighting in that moment.
“Doll.”
Alexandra’s loud crying came to my ears in that moment, and I advanced with fury.
“Come on, principessa! Be docile and obedient. After all, they are good to us, are they not?” Along with Alexandra’s crying, I heard my mother begging my father “please” while he destroyed her with his pocketknife. “It is your fault, Valentina!” she screamed as if she were my father. “It is your fault, and you
