Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 641

Here she was, offering me her support, while I stood strong and healthy, with nothing stopping me but
myself.
I reached out and took her hand.
The instance I took her hand, something shifted in me and her, in our little room and in the planet. Her
arm looked a little clearer, and the scratches lightened a little. It wasn’t much but -
It means the world to me.
A voice spoke softly into my head.
Nodding my head and blinking away the stubborn tears that had come from nowhere, I stood taller, and
cleared my throat. There was a sense of approval and relief emanating from the hand holding me, and
gripping it tighter, I finally felt at peace with myself - a peace that I haven’t felt since I was twelve.
Twenty-one, was when I held the hand of the ocean again, and began making changes.
Twenty-one, was when I finally saw beyond myself and my own grievances.
Twenty-one was the catalyst I needed in me.
Today, we are all twenty-one.