Page 124 of Invisible Bars
And just like that… it was over. All the work. All the nights I pushed through panic. All the times I took the hits and stayed silent. The rehearsals, the ridicule, the restraint. All of it—wiped away in one clean sentence.
I sat back down.
Not crying.
Not screaming.
Just still.
Just stunned.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror across from me.
My makeup? Flawless.
My gown? Perfect.
My hair? Sleek and sculpted.
But inside? I was unraveling.
I snapped out of the memory, wiping my cheek before I realized I was crying.
I looked down at the ring on my finger—Ambria’s gift, my tiny anchor in a world too loud and too cruel.I stared at it, turning it slowly. The pink stone shimmered faintly in the light, the same as it had that night.
I never told Ambria how much that moment meant to me. How much that one small act of kindness rewired my shame.
I had watched Ambria burn so brightly in a world that demanded women shrink.And now she was gone. Gone because she tried too hard to stay in that world. Starved herself of food, rest, and peace—trying to be what the industry wanted.
A tear slipped down my cheek.
People go, but how they leave always stays.
“I… I miss you,” I whimpered aloud, phone still resting in my lap. “Every damn day.”
I leaned back against the headboard, closed my eyes, and let the memory play again. That time… slower… softer.
Maybe one day I’d tell my story. Maybe one day I’d build something that made space for girls like me and Ambria. Girls who moved differently. Girls who cracked under pressure but still showed up anyway. Girls who weren’t afraid to take up space, even when the world begged them to vanish. Yeah.. one day.
Chapter Eighteen
IMANIO “GATEZ”
“Hello,” Dessign answered the phone, voice thick with sleep.
“Dess, I know damn well you ain’t sleep when you supposed to be watching Naji!”
I heard movement in the background and what sounded like Dessign smacking her lips.
“Okay,maybeI dozed off for like… a second,” she admitted. “But Imanio, you’re acting like the girl’s a toddler and not a grown woman with two legs and a will to use them.”
“Exactly my point—twoworkinglegs and a will isexactlyhow people manage to escape hostage situations! Now, where is she?”
“I feel like you were trying to be funny, emphasizing the word ‘working’, but I’ma let it slide.”
“Come on, sis… never that.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, she’s in her room if you must know.”
