Innocence by Harriet Daimler

First Line(s)

My mother came into my room and she gave me the tortured look that I had come to think her born expression. 'Good night, dear,' she modulated her voice which my illness had now made constantly softer, 'Are you all right?'

I didn't answer her at first, but lay flat under the covers, my thin body a rebuke to all her affection.