what does peace feel like?

And finally-peace

Ending

And finally...

I found peace.

It didn't come all at once.

It came slowly.

I stopped answering Mum's calls.

I stopped trying to convince her to understand me.

I stopped waiting for an apology I wasn't sure would ever come.

Later, I found out her lover boy had left her while she was pregnant.

The same man she'd risked everything for...

Was gone.

And somehow, I didn't feel happy about it.

I just felt tired.

I had spent too many years carrying things that were never mine to carry.

So I let them go.

I stayed with Dad.

I went back to school.

I laughed again.

I made memories that didn't have to be followed by fear.

And Afolabi stayed.

One evening, we sat together after school, talking about absolutely nothing.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

There was a strange silence.

Afolabi: “Why are you staring?”

I laughed.

Luna: “I'm not.”

Afolabi: “You definitely are.”

I rolled my eyes.

Then he smiled.

That same smile from the day we made it.

Except this time, I wasn't afraid of what waited for me at home.

Afolabi leaned closer.

I froze.

Afolabi: “Can I?”

My heart jumped.

I nodded.

And then...

My first kiss.

It was short.

Soft.

Nothing dramatic.

But when we pulled apart, I couldn't stop smiling.

For once, my heart wasn't preparing for the next bad thing.

It was simply happy.

I looked up at the sky.

Maybe peace wasn't a perfect home...

Maybe it wasn't a family that never broke.

Maybe peace was finally realizing that I deserved to be loved without having to earn it.

I smiled.

And for the first time...

I understood the question I'd been asking myself for so long.

What does peace feel like?

It feels like this.

THE END