Introduction

My world was painted with words nobody else could see, predictive text shimmering over everyone, even future adoptive families. When the chance came to pick a family, the perfect Hendersons offered sunny picnics and acceptance, but the text over Liam Henderson screamed a crimson warning: "AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Heartbreak."

Instead, it pointed to Blake Sterling, a boy drowned in the corner, with a soft blue message: "RECOMMENDED. A cold and difficult beginning. This boy is broken, but you are the key to his healing." I chose him, stepping into a life of cold silence, a museum of a house, and a father who disappeared even when he was home.

What started as quiet mutual support quickly devolved. Blake's mother's death, a supposed "wellness program," became his obsession, fueling a terrifying need for revenge against the Hendersons and Dr. Evelyn Reed. He was falling apart, spray-painting their mansion, self-destructing. Desperate, I confessed my secret, my ability to see the "text," telling him it warned me about his dangerous path.

Then, the true horror unfolded: the 'wellness program' wasn't just for his mother. Blake found a list, and my name was on it. The text I saw, my supposed "gift," wasn't magic-it was a side effect of the same experimental trial that killed his mother. I was a lab rat, just like her.

And then, his father-Mr. Sterling-came into focus. Not only had he known the program was dangerous, he' d taken money to keep quiet about the 'wellness program' and its child victims, including me. The connection between Blake and me shattered, a bond born of shared pain now poisoned by his father' s monstrous betrayal. Blake turned on me, his eyes filled with terror, accusing me of being part of the conspiracy, a living symbol of his family's betrayal.

I was alone again, more lost than in the orphanage, the text over my head a flat, dead gray: "Connection Severed." But then, a terrifying alert flashed, not for Blake, but for the man who had destroyed us both: "CRITICAL ALERT: STERLING SENIOR. ALCOHOL AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG INTERACTION. LETHAL PROBABILITY: 95%." Our personal tragedy was about to be eclipsed, and I knew-we had to save him.