(Karen’s POV – Present Tense)

Peace isn’t loud.

It doesn’t come with music or fireworks.

It arrives like a hush — a slow, uncertain quiet that feels almost foreign after months of chaos.

It’s been six weeks since Yasmin’s call. Six weeks since the storm finally broke and left us standing in its wreckage, blinking at the light.

At first, I didn’t know what to do with stillness. Every morning felt borrowed, every silence suspicious. I kept waiting for another message, another ...