**7 DAYS LATER**

“Be careful, dear!” Anne calls out, her voice filled with a mix of concern and motherly affection as she glances back at me, her eyes wide with worry.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” I reply, waving the plastic fan over the firewood with a hint of confidence. I watch the flames dance and flicker, tiny sparks of soot drifting upwards in a mesmerizing display of combustion.

“Hmm,” Anne stands up from her stool, placing her hands on her hips as she watches me with a scrutinizing gaze. She walks over and says, “No, hold the fan this way, or your wrists will get tired.” She wipes her wet hands on the back of her pants as she approaches.

“No, no, I said I’m fine. I’ve gotten used to it,” I reassure her for what feels like the umpteenth time. I’ve spent so much time with her lately that we’ve practically become inseparable. Andrew jokes that I’ve stolen his wife completely. I’ve observed her enough to learn how to start a fire for cooking. Today, after much coaxing, she finally agreed to let me handle it.

“Leave me alone and focus on your own work,” I tease, nodding towards the spot where she washing our clothes.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she huffs, stamping her foot playfully before turning her back to me, which makes me burst into laughter.

Anne is like a breath of fresh air. Her presence has been a comfort to me over these past few days. Without her, I would have felt lost and overwhelmed. She and Andrew have been married for 40 years and have a daughter named Livian.

Livian has moved to the city to make a living and seek greener pastures. From what they’ve told me, she’s around my age and works as a housekeeper. Every month, she calls and sends money for their upkeep. Back In the day, Andrew was set up and framed by a buisness associate, and ever since then, life has been tough for them. However, the way Anne talks about Liv makes it clear she was raised with immense love.

“Is it done? Should I put the pot on the fire?” I ask.

“Yes, it’s ready,” she replies, walking over with a smile.

“Good job, I knew you could do it.” She high-fives me, and we both laugh. It’s clear she didn’t quite believe I could handle it at the beginning.

“I’m going to take a shower,” I say, heading towards Liv’s room, which I’ve been staying in.

I walk to the room and grab Liv’s clothes before heading to the bathroom across the hall. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I gently touch my stomach. I’ve improved a lot since I arrived here. My face is fuller, and my once hollow eyes now sparkle with a new light.

But despite these changes, I just can’t seem to forget everything that happened—especially Nate. I try my hardest to maintain a smile, though Anne has told me that sometimes, it’s okay not to be okay, … and that is okay.

I’ve struggled with vulnerability my entire life, always hiding my emotions but Nate taught me what it meant to be open. To him, I was just another experiment, but to me, he was everything. I try to blink back my tears, instead of letting them fall. Don’t Judge me, It isn’t easy giving you all and being emotionally dependent only to have you fucked up.

And Now, carrying his child, a piece of him with me wherever I go, I feel an unbreakable connection to him. After all, we promised forever, didn’t we?

Andrew said he found me in the middle of the forest that unfortunate morning, on the brink of death and drenched in rain. His dog had sniffed me out and led him to me. He told me that, in all his years, he had never come across any sign of human life in that forest due to the dangerous wild animals. I should have been long gone, but he found me just in time.

Andrew is a hunter who also collects herbs to make medicine. He says the forest is full of exotic plants that he collects and sells. He’s like a father to me, treating me with such kindness and care. If he were here today, he would have been fussing over how Anne let me start the fire. He spoils me rotten and doesn’t even allow me to lift a single finger. He gives me herbs he says will be good for me and my unborn child.

I’m grateful for the second chance life has given me. I remember fragments of that day like broken pieces of a film—being left to die, the feeling of desperation as I reached out and tried to scream for them to take me back home, that I wasn’t dead. But looking back now, it all happened for the best.

To them, I was dead, and that’s how it must be. I have to learn to live for myself, not for others. I’m heading to the city. It’s time for a new chapter, a new beginning.