Linh sat in her room, the soft glow of the setting sun streaming through the window, casting faint streaks of light across the wooden floor. She gazed outside, where the city remained alive with hurried footsteps and the vibrant sounds of laughter echoing from the cafés. Yet, inside Linh, there existed an entirely different world – empty, still, as if all the noises and emotions of the outside had been frozen in time.
Day by day, she moved through life in this hollow way, her body in motion while her soul remained imprisoned within the unshakable fragments of memories. The pain had buried itself deep within her heart, never truly fading. Every night, as darkness enveloped the world, those memories would return – like restless specters haunting her mind. Images of a bygone time – a warm family, cherished friends, and most of all, the immense losses she could never erase.
She vividly remembered the first time her mother held her close, whispering words of love, assuring her that the world outside was vast, but nothing could ever separate them. Yet, life had not kept that promise. Loss, brokenness, and unfathomable events tore apart that picture of happiness, leaving behind fragments that could never be mended. She could never forget the day her mother left forever, and the hesitant gaze of her father, as if he didn't know how to help her stand strong.
Linh turned to look at the mirror in her room, and the reflection of herself made her feel strange. She didn't recognize the girl in the mirror anymore. This wasn't the Linh of those innocent days, filled with hope. The Linh of now, the one who forced a smile every time she stepped outside, was a cold girl, hollow and full of emptiness.
"I can't keep living like this," Linh told herself, then looked up towards the window. She didn't know what she was looking for, other than the faint rays of light filtering into the room. Perhaps she was simply hoping to catch a glimpse of hope, a sign that life could still change, that she could still rediscover herself.
But how to begin? How to face the wounds she had tried so hard to bury all these years? The question spun in her mind, yet there was no answer. She wanted to let go, to end all the feelings of being lost, but she feared that she would be left with nothing.
Linh stood up, walked over to the window, and sighed. In that moment, she realized that perhaps the journey to rediscover herself began with facing these pains, not to escape them, but to accept them as part of life. She couldn't change the past, but she could learn to live with it, and from there, find the path to healing.