**Diary Entry**
I was ten when I realised that the ones who give you life arent always the ones who stay. It wasnt a slow departure, not a tearful goodbye. No, it was brutal.
One day, I had a home, a family, parents. The next, they left me at an orphanage and walked away without looking back.
No explanation. No final embrace. Not even a whispered promise that theyd return.
For the first few days, I cried. The first few weeks, I hoped. The first few months, I waited.
I told myself it was a mistakethat theyd come back for me. I clung to the idea that they loved me, that there must have been a good reason for leaving.
But they never came.
In time, I understood no one was coming. No one wondered where I was, whether I had enough to eat, whether I was cold at night.
The orphanage wasnt a place for illusions. There, we didnt talk of love or familywe learned to survive. I saw children shatter under the weight of abandonment, their eyes losing all light.
But I refused to sink.
I worked, I studied, I built my future with my own hands. I swore Id never depend on anyone again.
And I made it.
After years of sacrifice, I had everything I neededa small flat in Manchester, a steady job, a car. I was alone, but I needed no one.
I thought Id buried my past. But the past has a way of resurfacing when you least expect it.
**A Ghost from the Past**
It began on an ordinary morning.
Id gone for my usual coffee at the corner café. The smell of freshly ground beans filled the air, and the world felt peaceful.
Then I saw her.
A woman stood across the street, staring at me with an intensity that unsettled me. I looked away and carried on.
But the next day, she was there again. And the day after.
I spotted her outside my building, hesitant, as if she wanted to come in but couldnt find the courage.
Then, one evening, she finally approached.
Daniel Is it really you? Her voice trembled, barely louder than a whisper.
I turned, and for a moment, the world froze.
I recognised her instantly.
Despite the years, the deep lines on her face, the streaks of grey in her hairI knew who she was.
It was her.
My mother.
**The Woman Who Left Now Wanted to Stay**
She started speaking before I could react, her words rushed, as if afraid Id walk away before she finished.
She told me how life had been cruelhow my father had turned to drink, how theyd lost everything.
Then came the question Id anticipated.
Ive nowhere to go Can I stay with you?
She had nothing.
No money, no home, no family.
And she wanted me to let her into my life.
She said she could take care of me, cook for me, be the mother shed never been.
As if it could all be undone with a few words.
I listened. I watched the tears roll down her cheeks.
But inside methere was nothing.
No anger.
No pity.
Just emptiness.
**The Choice That Changed Everything**
You left me. My voice was calm. Cold. You walked away and never looked back. Why do you think you can return now?
Her face darkened, her shoulders slumped.
Daniel I made a mistake I was scared lost But youre my son.
I smiled bitterly.
I was your son, nineteen years ago. Now, Im a stranger to you.
She reached for me, searching for forgiveness.
I stepped back.
Please Ive got no one left.
I hesitated. Just for a second.
Maybe someone else wouldve let her in.
Maybe someone else wouldve believed her.
But not me.
Not with her.
Shed made her choice nineteen years ago.
Now it was mine to make.
Dont ever come back.
She didnt argue.
She just bowed her head.
Then she turned and walked away.
I watched her disappear down the street, waiting to feel somethinganything.
But there was nothing.
No relief.
No regret.
Only silence.
Perhaps if shed stayed back then, Id be different.
Perhaps Id know what it means to have a family.
But Ill never know.
The past cant be changed. But the future?
Thats mine.
And I choose to move forward. Alone.
