Scars She Carries, Love She Deserves
Then she turned off the lamp, and Lila rolled over, hugging her koala tight.
Before she fell asleep, she thought about the picture she’d drawn.
The big pink tree.
The people underneath.
And how, in the corner of the page, she had drawn a tiny hummingbird.
It wasn’t perfect. The wings were uneven and the eyes were too big.
But it was flying.
Just like her.
A storm rolled in that night—sudden and sharp.
The wind howled against the windows, rattling the glass like ghosts trying to get in. Thunder cracked across the sky like a warning. The lights flickered once, then steadied.