Chapter 16: Wounds That Refuse to Heal.
After everything Ezinne had fought for, after the way her life had shifted from the shadows of fear to the light of possibility, there was still something gnawing at her heart. Something she couldn't quite shake, no matter how hard she tried. Her life had changed in ways she never imagined going back to school, securing a good job, her business finally flourishing but the echoes of her past still haunted her. She had fought for herself and her son, but now she was left with the painful realization that the battles weren't over. In fact, they had only just begun. One rainy afternoon, she sat by the window, watching the drops race down the glass. Her phone buzzed on the table next to her, dragging her from her thoughts. She glanced at the screen and saw a message from Ogechi. "Are you okay? I'm worried about you." Ezinne let out a long breath, not sure how to answer. She was okay... wasn't she? She had rebuilt herself, carved out a new life. But the question remained: Was she really okay? She stood and walked to the small drawer where she kept all her old things, the things she'd never quite been able to throw away. Old letters from her father, his handwriting still clear in her memory, even though he'd passed when she was only two. Her mother's angry letters that had followed her for years, words of bitterness and blame. And then, buried deep within the pile, an envelope marked with her family's old address. The letter from Adaora. She hadn't been able to bring herself to read it before. The words that Adaora had written filled with sarcasm and hurt still stung when she thought about it. But now, with a mixture of dread and curiosity, she opened it. Her heart tightened as she read: "I don't know what's become of you, Ezinne, but I'm done pretending like everything's okay. Maybe you've forgotten, but I haven't. It's not just mum, you know. It's all of us, and you're the one who's always run away. You've hurt us, and you've hurt yourself. There's no coming back from that." Her hands trembled as she folded the letter, her breath catching in her throat. Adaora's words were sharp, but there was something more in them, something Ezinne hadn't expected to feel: guilt. She had tried to forget her family, tried to distance herself from the pain, but their weight still hung on her shoulders like an anchor. She wanted to throw the letter away, to forget it, but something inside her resisted. Maybe, just maybe, there was more she needed to understand. She reached for her phone and dialed Ogechi's number. "Ezinne?" Ogechi answered on the second ring. "Are you okay?" "I don't know," Ezinne replied softly. "I thought I was okay, but maybe I'm not." Ogechi's voice softened. "You've come so far, Ezinne. You're stronger than you think." "I'm trying," Ezinne whispered, her voice breaking. "But it feels like the past is still holding me back. I can't outrun it anymore. I can't pretend it doesn't matter." Ogechi was silent for a moment, and then she spoke. "Maybe it's time to confront it. Not for them, Ezinne. But for you. So you can move forward." The words sank deep into her chest. Confronting the past. Could she really do that? Could she face her mother, Adaora, and Chinedu? Could she let go of the hurt they'd caused her all these years? As the evening stretched on, Ezinne wrestled with the decision. She had come so far, but could she really heal without facing the people who had broken her? The people who had made her feel so small and worthless? It was only when Chibuikem asked why she was crying that the answer became clear. "Because sometimes," she whispered to him, wiping away her tears, "it's not the things that have happened that hurt the most. It's the things we haven't faced yet." That night, as the world outside her apartment remained in shadows, Ezinne made a decision. She would go back. She would face her mother, Adaora, and Chinedu not for them, but for herself. For the woman she had become. For the woman she had to become. And as she closed her eyes to sleep, she knew that whatever came next whatever pain or revelation awaited her it wouldn't break her. It couldn't. Because now, Ezinne was no longer the frightened, lost girl she had been. She was a woman who had survived. And no matter how deep the wounds went, she was ready to heal.