She was sitting by the pond, pondering how she should handle the news of her big brother’s addiction. He had always been such an inspiration to her, such a role model, and now all she felt that all she had ever thought about him was wrong. She was his baby sister! She needed someone to look up to. Right?

Wrong, Ayah. she realized. You don’t need someone else to tell you what to do, or what kind of person you should be. What you need is to be you. Uniquely you. That’s why your parents named you Ayah in the first place! They didn’t want you to feel like you were just another Emily or Julia. They wanted you to be free and unique. Free to be yourself! Free to be who YOU want to be, not who-

“Ayah? Are you out here?” She heard her brother say.

She stood up and started towards him, knowing what she had to do.

She was now free.