Chapter 10: The Healing
The healing began the day Gero was sentenced.
Beate moved back to her father’s house.
She gave birth to a healthy baby girl two weeks later.
She named her Clara.
Thomas held his granddaughter with tears in his eyes.
Beate started therapy twice a week.
She learned to sleep without checking the locks.
She learned to eat without waiting for permission.
She learned to speak without fear of being hit.
One afternoon, she sat in the garden with Clara in her arms and watched the sun set.
Thomas sat beside her.
“I’m proud of you,” he said.
Beate leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I’m proud of me too.”
The healing was slow.
It was quiet.
It was real.
The monster who had raised her was in prison.
The daughter she had tried to break was finally free.
And the little girl in her arms would never know the fear her mother had lived with.
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The healing had begun.
And it would continue.
