Chapter 10 - The Dawn of the Survivor
It has been a year since the day Miriam flushed my pills.
A year since the day Garrick ordered me to mow the lawn.
Today,
I am sitting on my own porch,
watching the sunrise over the Atlantic.
There are no plastic tubes in my chest.
There is no fire in my stitches.
There is only the steady,
strong beat of a heart that refused to stop.
I have a new job,
working as a patient advocate at a local hospital.
I spend my hours talking to women who feel like they are drowning.
I tell them my story.
I show them my scars.
I tell them that the most important part of recovery isn't the medicine or the surgery.
It’s the refusal to be a victim.
It’s the understanding that you are worth the fight.
I received a letter yesterday from a prison in Texas.
It was from Miriam.
I didn't open it.
I didn't have to.
I knew what it said.
It was either a demand for forgiveness or a curse for my 'betrayal'.
Neither of those things has any power over me now.
I walked down to the edge of the water and let the wind take the envelope.
I watched it flutter away,
a small white speck against the vastness of the ocean.
I thought about the woman I used to be.
The woman who apologized for her own pain.
The woman who stayed in the dark because she was told she didn't deserve the light.
I forgive her.
I forgive her for not knowing her own strength.
I forgive her for believing their lies.
But I will never go back to her.
I am the daughter of the storm.
I am the sister of the reckoning.
I am the survivor.
As the sun broke over the horizon,
filling the sky with gold and pink,
I took a deep,
full breath.
It didn't hurt.
It felt like victory.
I walked back to my house,
the grass soft and cool beneath my feet.
I didn't have to mow it.
I didn't have to prove anything to anyone.
I was just living.
And that was the greatest revenge of all.
Their life had fallen apart.
Mine had finally begun.
I am Elena.
May you like
I am free.
And I am whole.
