21/12/2025
Part_4️⃣9️⃣
“Before the Storm”
The night was still, save for the occasional hum of cicadas outside the small shop.
Chinedu sat alone, hands clasped tightly, staring at the flickering candle on his desk.
The letter from his father lay before him, a reminder that the past wasn’t done with him yet.
He thought of the boy he had once been — terrified, beaten, told he was worthless.
The boy who had hidden behind shadows, wishing for someone, anyone, to love him as he was.
Now he was forty-four, a man the world admired, a healer in his own right, yet the fear stirred as though it had been lying dormant, waiting for this very moment.
What would he say?
How would he stand?
Could he speak without the old tremor in his voice?
Could he look the man who had scarred him in the eyes and finally say:
I am not afraid anymore?
Chinedu closed his eyes and let the memories wash over him: the whispered taunts, the sting of rejection, the nights of loneliness and longing.
And then he remembered Amara — steady, unwavering, her hand in his.
The survivors he had guided.
The children who looked at him with awe, not fear.
He took a deep breath, feeling the fire within, the same fire that had burned him as a boy but now forged him into someone unbreakable.
“This isn’t just for me,” he whispered to the dark room.
“It’s for every scarred hand that’s ever been turned away, every child who’s been told they’re not enough.
I face him for them… and for myself.”
He stood slowly, walking to the mirror.
His reflection stared back — a man with scars that told stories, eyes that had known pain and hope, and a spine that had learned to stand tall despite the world’s weight.
“Tomorrow,” he said softly, “I speak my truth.
Not to win him over, not to demand apology… but to finally be free.”
Outside, the wind whispered through the mango tree, rustling leaves like a quiet blessing.
Chinedu sat back down, closed his eyes, and let the anticipation, the fear, and the courage coexist.
The storm was coming, and he would meet it with everything he had become.
゚