Chapter 172: The Depth Of Riley's Trauma

RILEY   I hadn't even noticed it was missing until that moment. The thick metal chain that Mama Sophia had made me wear every day for as long as I could remember -- the one that made it hard for me to talk about certain things, hard to remember certain details -- it was gone.   I remembered having it when Mama Sophia pushed me off that cliff, remembered the weight of it around my neck as I fell. But somehow, sometime since then, someone had taken it off me. I had no idea how or when it had happened.   "Riley," my real mama said carefully, "what do you mean about Aunt Andy? Who is Aunt Andy?"   Now that the necklace was gone, the words came easier, even though they still scared me to say. "It's a lover's curse," I said quietly, looking down at the floor. "Aunt Andy used to do it to me all the time whenever I disobeyed or made Mama angry."   The silence that followed was so complete I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.   "She normally called me her little test subject," I c