Bound by Power

: The Shield of Thorns

For years, I lived in a storm of silent battles. My home was a battlefield of expectations and harsh words, and my heart was a graveyard of failed loves. I thought I knew what pain felt like, until the world stopped spinning on one cold afternoon.

The news didn't come as a whisper; it struck like a lightning bolt, shattering the fragile walls I had built around my soul. 'Cancer.' The word felt heavy, bitter, and impossible.

My mother—the woman who was as hard as a rock, whose hands were often cold but whose presence was my only shelter—was fading. I never imagined a day without her shadow. But as her breath grew shallow, a new chapter of agony began. She was my shield of thorns; she hurt me, yet she was the only thing keeping the world from crushing me. Now, the shield is gone, and I am standing bare in the wind lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, but they lied. As I stood there, frozen, staring at my mother’s lifeless body, the world didn't just stop—it collapsed.

In that haunting silence, my mind betrayed me. It dragged me back years ago, to the very same room, the same cold air, and the same agonizing stillness when I lost my father. It was the same movie, playing again, but with a different lead character.

Losing my father was the first crack in my soul, but my mother… she was the one holding the broken pieces together. Even in her harshness, she was my gravity. Now, looking at her, I realized that my shield had finally crumbled. I wasn't just an orphan; I was a warrior who had lost her armor in the middle of a storm.

The pain of 'Goodbye' is a sound that never leaves your ears. It is a void that no amount of time can fill