Unfelt Words, Unfelt Love

The loss of a loved one is a wound that cuts deep, leaving scars that take a long time to heal. For Nat, the death of her great-grandfather was the first true heartbreak of her life. He had been her anchor, the person who provided stability in a world that often felt unpredictable and overwhelming. When he passed away suddenly just before her 10th-grade exams, it felt as if the ground had shifted beneath her feet.

The funeral was a blur of faces, all strangers, their voices muffled in her ears. Nat stood beside her family, trying to keep it together for their sake, but inside, she was broken. Her great-grandfather had always been there—whenever she felt lost or alone, he was the one who had soothed her, telling her that everything would be okay. His death left her feeling as if she had no one to turn to. No one, that is, except herself.

In the weeks that followed, Nat's sense of isolation only deepened. The pain of her great-grandfather's absence became entwined with the growing decline of her great-grandmother. Once a sharp, active woman full of life, her great-grandmother began to forget things, to forget her. Nat watched helplessly as the person who had once cared for her so deeply became a shadow of the woman she had known.

There were moments when Nat would sit beside her, trying to recall the old stories her great-grandmother used to tell, but it was as if the woman was slipping away in slow motion. One day, Nat arrived home from school to find her great-grandmother staring out the window, unable to recognize her or remember the day of the week.

That was the moment it hit her—she was alone. Her parents were busy, her father consumed by his work, and her mother distracted by her office works. She had no one to share her pain with, no one to help her carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. It was all on her now, and she had to find a way to survive.

For the first time in her life, Nat began to question everything she had believed in. How could she keep going when the people she loved were fading away? How could she keep pretending that everything was okay when her world felt like it was falling apart?

It wasn't until she found herself sitting alone in her room, trying to study for an upcoming test, that she realized something had to change. She couldn't keep burying her emotions under the weight of her responsibilities. She couldn't keep pretending that her life was normal when it felt so far from it.

That night, Nat made a decision. She was going to break free from the darkness that had consumed her. She couldn't undo the past or bring her great-grandfather back, but she could start taking steps toward a future that wasn't entirely defined by pain and loss. She was determined to push past the grief and find a way forward.

The breakthrough came in an unexpected form—a new school, a fresh start. But even then, the shadows of her past lingered, haunting her whenever she was alone. There were still moments when Nat would sit in her room, staring at the empty space where her great-grandfather once sat, or when she would hear her great-grandmother's confused murmurs in the next room. Yet, for the first time in a long while, Nat began to feel a faint glimmer of hope. She didn't know where it would lead, but the thought of a future without her past seemed like the only way forward.