There once was a girl named Mira, who believed in love and the safety that came with it. She grew up surrounded by promises, whispers of forever, and the assurance that those who loved her would never leave. Life, she thought, would always be a shared burden, where sorrows were halved and joys were doubled. But she didn’t know then how cruel life could be, how quickly the people you trust could vanish, leaving you alone to face a storm you never asked for.
Mira’s world began to crumble the day her father left. He didn’t say much, just walked out with a suitcase, leaving behind a letter filled with excuses she was too young to understand. Her mother fell into a dark, bottomless depression, and before long, she too disappeared into her own world, one of silence and neglect. Friends who had been close stopped reaching out, uncomfortable with the heaviness that seemed to follow her everywhere. One by one, the people Mira relied on fell away, leaving her to survive on her own.
The years that followed were a blur of pain. Each day was a struggle, each night a battle against the crushing loneliness that swallowed her whole. Mira became a shadow of the girl she once was, hollowed out and empty. She tried to carry the weight of it all, but it was too much, and soon the thoughts crept in dark, insidious thoughts that whispered how easy it would be to let go, to stop fighting, to simply end the suffering.
Many nights, she stood at the edge, wondering if anyone would notice if she disappeared completely. There were moments when she came close, when the pain seemed unbearable, and the world felt too heavy for her to hold any longer. The idea of death, of an end to the constant ache, became almost comforting. She would lie awake, imagining the peace it might bring an escape from the endless cycle of abandonment, failure, and heartache.
But something deep inside her wouldn’t let her fall. It wasn’t hope; she had long since lost that. It was anger, raw and fierce, that began to burn in her chest. She started to ask herself why she should be the one to disappear, why she should be the one to give up. The people who left her, the world that had been so cruel, why should they win? Why should they be free from the sight of her rising?
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that dying would be the easy way out too easy. If she gave up, no one would ever know her story, her pain, or her strength. She wanted them to see her, to remember her. She wanted them to regret leaving her behind. And so, she made a decision: she wouldn’t die, not yet. She would survive. And not just survive she would succeed.
The journey wasn’t smooth. Mira clawed her way up from the darkness, one excruciating step at a time. She fought against the voices in her head that told her she wasn’t enough, that she would never escape the shadows of her past. But now, there was a fire inside her, a determination that grew stronger with every day she stayed alive. She worked harder than she ever thought possible, pushing herself to the breaking point, refusing to let the world defeat her.
She had nothing to lose, and that made her unstoppable.
Years passed, and slowly, Mira began to transform. She became someone others noticed, someone who couldn’t be ignored. She built a life for herself out of the ruins of her past, using the pain that had once almost destroyed her as fuel for her success. She became the woman she had once dreamed of being strong, independent, and unbreakable. People who had abandoned her began to notice, began to wonder how she had risen from the ashes they had left her in.
And that was her revenge success. It wasn’t about proving anything to others, not anymore. It was about proving something to herself, about reclaiming the power she had once thought was lost. She didn’t need their apologies, didn’t need their approval. She only needed to know that she had won, that she had survived the storm and come out stronger on the other side.
There were still moments, quiet moments late at night, when the memories would creep back in of the girl she once was, of the nights she had nearly given up. But now, instead of sadness, those memories brought a kind of pride. She had walked through the fire and emerged as someone no one could tear down again.
Mira learned, as the years passed, that life wasn’t about waiting for people to save you or holding on to the hope that they would never leave. It was about becoming your own hero, about standing tall in a world that tried to break you. And that, she realized, was the greatest revenge of all not living to die, but living to show the world just how powerful she could be.
Voices in Ink 