LOVE HEALS

LEARNING TO STAND ALONE

When David was adopted, silence and loneliness fell over Lisa's life. Laughter, as easy as it was, the late-night conversations, the humorous puns, all vanished when David was with his best set of parents, who took an interest in his hobby of drawing. Sky's incident followed a few months later, even before Lisa could reconstruct her emotions. This was hard for Lisa because she was used to people leaving her. As soon as she started healing, all her friends left, too.

She was again left isolated in Willows Grove. Breakfast was eaten in silence, and the day felt so long that the sight of sunset felt like galaxies away. Sh missed David's style of mending things and Sky's determination, which made her feel strong.

Lisa tried to stay out of the way, head down, with good grades, household work, and not to become attached to people again. She did not want to love anyone, only to be disappointed. Lisa believed that people would leave in the end. That was all that was ever certain.

But something slowly changed. It started with Mrs. Nali, the school art teacher, who welcomed her to eat alone daily and let her keep herself busy. Lisa was to help her present the school art display. Lisa never spoke but continued to return. There was also a quiet boy, Musa, in her class who had lost someone and preferred to draw rather than talk. They did not speak all the time, but before long, they shared sketchbooks and an unspoken nod of understanding.

Lisa also started writing during the night in a journal, pages of sorrow, remembrance, and flashes of hopefulness. Writing was where her friends resided, David's laughter echoed, and Sky's courage still existed.

Time passed, and she was no longer the same girl who was there when she was watching everyone disperse. She was still healing, still missing them, but now pieces of herself that lay hidden in the pain had been fixed. Lisa knew that one day, she would reunite with her friends, Sky and David, but she had to make her life better first.

When she turned 18, one morning, Lisa sat on the front porch of a group home, holding one duffle bag, neither birthday party nor gifts, she only got a goodbye from a social worker and some other kids who hugged her harder than words can say.

The sun shone brightly, as if it were too cruel to the burden of her heart. She was free at last, but this didn't feel right; this was her first time being alone, and she didn't know what awaited her, but Lisa knew this was another world to navigate.

Her studio apartment was small and full of old stuff. The social worker had gotten her off to a start with empty walls, secondhand furniture, and a small fridge stocked with nothing but bottled water and staff farewell leftover cake. It wasn't much, but it was all hers.

The first few weeks were hard. It was so quiet, with no crying from any child; nothing came out of her room. No screaming of sky down the hallway or David's chuckling for breakfast cereal. Just her and the echoes of the memories, she was at least peaceful with her conscience.

She worked in a tiny day café, pinching every shilling, and doing night studies for a social work degree online because she wanted to make the life of kids like her easier.

She never gave up hope, though. She slowly filled the apartment with Sky and David's photos on her bedside table, some of hers. The walls were filled with her artwork that encouraged her every day.

The apartment was tiny, one room, a kitchenette, and a bathroom, but it was a universe to Lisa. A universe with no back door gossip, curfews, and no employees inquiring about her well-being when she didn't even know herself. This was her small world, and that was what mattered.

Neighbours did fight sometimes, but then there was silence again. This was the life she was slowly adapting to. She was used to hearing the door shut and knowing she was alone. She wanted to go somewhere, but couldn't.

On other evenings, Lisa was wrapped up on the couch under the blanket, watching TV but not really watching. She missed David's joking, Sky's tone of voice, and even the crew's family chaos. At least then, she felt more alive.

She spent her mornings at the cafe serving customers happily, but never said. In the evenings, she kept herself busy with study, slowly pulling herself together. She had to be a dependable person in society. At least she could fix the regrets she had growing up.neverekends dragged on. Lisa would sometimes stroll around, browse a used bookstore, and get lost. She began slowly to form habits - washing the bedding on Sundays, watering the little pot plant on the windowsill, and writing in her journal at night.

She began painting again. She painted with scraps of cardboard and canvas if she could do it at all. Her walls hung thick with her paintings: crying faceless women with flowers sprouting out of their eyes and the skies ranging from storm greys to sun oranges. She was mending in secret, stubbornly. Little by little, life became understandable to her.

And then the little wins.Learning to budget, preparing her first proper meal (rice and lentils that tasted nice). Laughing for real, watching an old cartoon after weeks of not seeing any made her remember David and Sky.

She was not trying to create a perfect life but a place where she could live. Lisa had no one, yet she was no longer alone. Now, she felt pain, happiness, and frustration. She was slowly becoming human.

She had herself. And one day at a time, that was enough. At least this was life that she could manage. Now she was at peace with herself, and the depression was long gone. Her life had direction and a purpose.