Hidden Scars

"Does it still hurt?"

Inside the quiet, small bedroom on the upper floor of Onyx Bay Villa, Sienna knelt beside the ornate bed. She carefully dabbed a cotton swab coated in soothing ointment against the angry red welt on Hazel’s swollen cheek. The room was heavy with a sad, stifling quiet, broken only by the child's sniffles.

"It hurts," Hazel whimpered softly. Her big, dewy eyes were swimming i