PROLOGUE
To you,
who’ve always felt like too much.
Or maybe just… not enough.
To you, who laughed when everything inside was falling apart —
just to keep people from worrying. Even though they wouldn’t understand anyway.
This isn’t the story of a girl who finds herself.
It’s the story of a girl who gets lost — with style.
And sarcasm.
Renée lost her face. Literally.
Don’t worry, no one really noticed.
Too busy fixing her. Like she was a crooked painting on a wall.
But Renée wasn’t a painting.
She was a sound. A crack. A thought too long to listen to.
When she told the truth, nobody believed her.
So she learned to smile… while disappearing.
One piece at a time.
At school? She’s the “weird one.”
At home? “Overdramatic.”
But really, she’s just bad at pretending to be someone she’s not.
Inside her, there’s a voice made of sugar and thorns,
of silent screams and dreams she’d rather delete —
just to make space for something simpler.
Like a version of herself that her mom could finally love.
Spoiler: she failed.
This story doesn’t want a happy ending.
It just wants someone who’ll read it all the way through.
Even when it stings.
Even when Renée seems ridiculous, too soft, or way too much.
Because that’s where the truth lives.
Not in the perfect lines,
but in the ones that shake.
And if, while reading, you feel understood — even just for a second —
then maybe, just maybe,
you’re someone’s echo, too.
