A singular ray of sun snuck through the wooden panels placed over the only window. I watched, numb, as the light left her eyes. She’d suffered the same fate as every woman before her, suffered the ‘curse’ that merely deflected the blame from the monsters that dared call themselves man, the monsters that were both the sons in my wretched family and the husbands that wormed their way in.

From the second she was born, she was condemned to be an appendage for the ‘man of the house’. Her whole life, she was both a servant and a baby machine, conflicted with double standards, emotional turmoil, the harsh truth hidden beneath the wealth. I watched as she went from bearing the brunt of the chores with her mother, to watching her mother die and overtaking her duties; I watched as time ticked by and she had to handle the burden of every job, every role, and still suffered in every way possible.

She was the glue keeping the ‘family’ together, yet she was treated as criminal, as a showcase of sin. Far too young, she married a wealthy ‘man’, who was really a corrupted monstrosity. She bore three children, all sons. I saw the relief flood her face every time she realised it was a little boy, not another Eve.

I’ve watched and seen countless members of our ‘family’ whittle away, the men always happy and the women suffering. Now I watch as she, too, fades away. My Julia.

Our very last Human.