The honesty caught me off guard.
“You didn’t deserve any of that.”
For the first time in years, I hugged my sister.
Not because the past disappeared.
Not because everything was fixed.
But because healing has to start somewhere.
When we finally separated, she smiled through tears.
“You really showed them.”
I laughed.
“No.”
I looked around the stadium.
“I showed myself.”
That evening, after the crowds disappeared, I walked across campus alone.
The sun was setting behind Briarwood’s stone buildings.
Students posed for photos.
Families laughed.
