133. Pendo OdhiamboRoman

The name hits me second.

The photograph hits first.

I don’t understand what I’m looking at for a full, suspended moment… just color and shape and familiarity without context. A woman standing against a neutral background, shoulders straight, eyes calm. Too calm. Too known.

My fingers tighten around the paper. Then I see the name…

Pendo Odhiambo.

Something inside my chest gives way, not loudly, not cleanly, but like a fault line slipping after years of pressure. ...