STARLIGHT IN HER HANDS.

CHAPTER 1 The Silence After the Storm Eliana Chukwuma’s earliest childhood memory is of rain. Not the calming kind. The loud, violent kind that sounds like the sky is breaking. She was seven when her world changed forever. A car crash took her parents, her home, and the life she knew. People told her they “went to be with God,” but all she heard was: You’re alone now. She ended up at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, a quiet place with worn pews and a faint smell of candle wax. Father Dominic took her small hand and promised: "You’re safe here, child.” She believed him, as she had no one else. Her new room was tucked away behind the choir loft. It was small, dusty, and lit by a single tiny window. Yet it became her sanctuary. She learned to keep her voice low, her footsteps soft, and her heart quiet. She learned loneliness the way other children learn multiplication. But she also learned resilience. CHAPTER 2 — The Wolves in Uniforms At ten, she earned a scholarship to St. Catherine’s Secondary School, an expensive school filled with shiny shoes, perfect braids, and girls who could spot weakness. Eliana stood out immediately. Worn shoes. Second-hand uniform. No parents visiting on Visiting Day. A soft voice that trembled like a candle flame. The girls surrounded her — not physically, but emotionally. They whispered lies, hid her notebooks, took her food, broke her pens, and mocked her background. The hardest blow came from Lydia, the girl who she thought was her first true friend. They ate together. Studied together. Shared secrets. Until exam week in SS1. Lydia copied directly from her exam paper. When the teacher noticed, Lydia cried and said: "Eliana forced me to cheat!” Eliana froze, silent and trembling. She didn’t face severe punishment; the teachers adored her brilliance. But Lydia’s betrayal left her heart aching. By SS2, Eliana stopped trying to make friends. She walked with her head down. Her homework was perfect, but her heart remained locked away. They called her: * church girl * charity case * scholarship cockroach * saint’s pet She said nothing. She simply survived. CHAPTER 3 — Cold Nights and Quiet Tears Secondary school left scars even she couldn’t name. In SS2, two girls locked her outside the hostel after prep. She sat there with her knees hugged to her chest as the cold midnight breeze stung her skin. She whispered the only prayer she remembered: "God… don’t let me disappear.” She didn’t cry loudly. She had forgotten how. In class, she excelled. Her grades soared. She topped every chart. But success only fueled the girls' hatred. Father Dominic noticed the sadness in her eyes. One evening after Mass, he said softly: "You’re fighting battles that would break grown adults. But you… you’re still standing. And one day, child… love will find you.” She didn’t believe him — not yet. By SS3, she lived like a ghost among the living, but a determined ghost. Her dream was her escape. University. A future. A life she would build with her own hands. She just had to survive long enough to reach it.