CHAPTER 49: THE LIFE WE CHOOSE
There is something strange about waking up without fear when fear has been your constant companion for so long. It doesn’t disappear overnight. It fades in layers, like a fog slowly lifting from a landscape you’re still learning how to see clearly again. That morning, I woke before everyone else, as usual, but this time I didn’t feel the need to check every room or listen for unfamiliar sounds. Instead, I stayed in bed for a few extra minutes, staring at the ceiling, letting the quiet settle into me instead of questioning it. It felt unfamiliar, almost fragile, like something I wasn’t sure I deserved to trust yet. But I was learning that peace doesn’t need permission, it only needs space. When I finally got up, the house greeted me with soft stillness, the
