healing slowly
802 Words
Chapter 2
Can a person be surrounded by people... and still feel alone?
Can a person be surrounded by people... and still feel alone?
I know the answer.
Because every morning, I walked into school with hundreds of students.
Yet somehow...
I always felt like I was walking by myself.
"Lunaaaa!"
I turned around before I even had to guess who it was.
Maya.
Loud.
Dramatic.
Late...
As usual.
"Wait for us!" she yelled, dragging Zara along with one hand while trying not to drop her bag with the other.
Daniel walked behind them, shaking his head.
"One day she's actually going to fall."
"Not today," Maya laughed. "Today I'm lucky."
I smiled.
"Morning."
My fingers brushed through my hair without thinking.
Zara noticed and laughed.
"There she goes again."
"Doing what?" Maya asked.
"Touching her hair every time someone talks to her."
"You really do that?" Daniel asked.
I smiled.
"Do I?"
They laughed.
I laughed too.
It was easier that way.
We walked into class together.
Four friends.
Four different lives.
Maya complained about Mathematics.
Zara couldn't stop talking about a new student.
Daniel was worried about the upcoming exams.
And me...
I listened.
I always listened.
That's what I was good at.
When Maya was stressed, I encouraged her.
When Zara argued with her cousin, I comforted her.
When Daniel doubted himself, I reminded him how capable he was.
Somehow...
I always knew the right words for everyone else.
But never for myself.
"Luna," Maya said, nudging my shoulder.
"If you had one wish, what would it be?"
My hand found my hair again.
I smiled.
"To sleep for a whole week."
They burst into laughter.
"Only you would say that!" Zara giggled.
I laughed with them.
But the truth stayed hidden.
If I had one wish...
I wouldn't waste On sleep
I'd wish to know...
What peace feels like.
My friends knew my favorite snacks.
They knew I hated Physics.
They knew I'd always share my lunch.
They knew I smiled at almost everything.
But they didn't know...
I cried myself to sleep some nights.
Not because they didn't care.
Because I never let them know.
Somewhere along the way...
I taught myself that every problem had only one owner.
Me.
Every tear was mine to wipe away.
Every battle...
Mine to fight.
Alone.
Asking for help felt like speaking a language I'd never learned.
So I became everyone's safe place...
While quietly wondering...
Who would ever become mine?
People ask me what peace feels like.
For years... I didn't have an answer.
I searched for it in perfect grades.
In other people's approval.
In pretending I was okay.
I never found it there.
Then I met a quiet boy named Afolabi.
He didn't save me.
I didn't save him.
We simply reminded each other that we were never meant to carry life alone.
And that's when I finally understood...
Peace isn't the absence of pain.
It's the presence of someone who makes the pain easier to carry.
When I was seventeen, I thought peace was something I had to earn.
Something waiting for me at the end of a perfect life.
I know now that I was wrong.
Peace isn't found in perfection.
It's found in honesty.
In being seen.
In sitting beside someone who doesn't ask you to hide the parts of yourself you've spent years apologizing for.
I used to wonder what peace felt like.
Now I know.
It feels like laughter that isn't forced.
Like silence that isn't lonely.
Like a hand that never lets you carry everything by yourself.
It feels like coming home—not to a place, but to a person who reminds you that you're enough, even on the days you don't believe it.
For the first time in my life...
I finally knew what peace felt like.
And maybe...
If you've carried your own invisible weight for far too long...
I hope one day, you find your peace too.
- Writer
