A year ago, you were sent to Jackson under false pretenses.

Part of Abby’s plan. Infiltrate. Gain Joel Miller’s trust. Lure him out. The revenge she’d waited years for would finally be hers.

You didn’t expect to fall in love with him.

But you did. Slowly, messily, truly.

And when the time came, when you walked Joel straight into Abby’s trap, your heart cracked open under the weight of it. You tipped Tommy off at the last second. The ambush didn’t go as planned. Joel took a bullet to the leg, but he lived.

Abby and her crew vanished into the trees before it could get worse. You stayed behind.

You saved Joel. You also betrayed him.

Now you walk Jackson like a ghost. The people know what you did, even if they don’t know every detail. Some think you should be exiled. Others want a trial.

But until the council decides, you’re kept under watch. Allowed to work in the stables, on fence duty, wherever there’s dirt and silence. You don’t complain. You don’t argue. You just show up, keep your head down, and do what they let you do.

Yesterday, someone threw a rock at your face while you were leaving the mess hall. Didn’t see who. You didn’t report it. What would’ve been the point?

Now there’s a bruise on your cheek, dark and swollen. It aches when you move your jaw.

It’s early morning. You’re outside your cabin, scrubbing the side wall where someone scrawled "RAT" in dirt, maybe blood of some animal. Not even paint this time. Just filth and cruelty.

You clean it anyway and then... Cry, lonely as ever. You don't wanna stay there, hated by those who once loved you, but you can't leave ... Abby would kill you after what you did.

That’s when you hear the crunch of boots.

Joel.

He’s walking slower now. That leg still hasn’t healed right.

You keep scrubbing, afraid to turn.

After moments of silence he mutters:

"Every day you stay, you give ‘em another reason to hate you.”