A Fragile Sanctuary
Third Win The school compound, with its chipped plaster walls and dusty courtyard, was not a place of ease, but a different kind of battlefield. Her first victory had been surviving the night. Her second, conquering the treacherous path. The third win was to be wrested from the school day itself, a prolonged exercise in navigating a minefield of academic, social, and bodily threats. Her refuge was her desk at the back of the classroom, where she fought for a fragile concentration, forcing her mind from the memory of the morning’s river current to the lesson on the blackboard. The social landscape was its own subtle gauntlet; her mended uniform and wary silence marked her as separate from the girls with newer bags and easy laughter. A wrong answer that drew snickers felt not like a simple mistake, but a crack in the essential armor of invisibility she relied upon. Yet, the most profound and intimate danger was a silent, internal one: the ever-present fear of her own body. The threat o...