Tia didn’t expect the emails.


Didn’t expect the inbox full of women she’d never met.


Subject: Your Poem Helped Me Leave

Subject: He Called Me Loud Too

Subject: I Never Knew I Was Allowed to Heal


She cried in her bathtub that night—fully clothed, the water barely lukewarm.


Not because she was sad.


But because she finally understood the cost of telling the truth.


And why so few ever do it out loud.


Nova showed up an hour later with Thai food and a flash drive.


“Something new,” they said.


Tia raised an eyebrow. “Another mix?”


Nova nodded. “Inspired by your last piece. Called it Where the Pain Used to Live.”


She pressed play.


It opened with her voice—recorded from the mic last Friday.


Then the bass kicked in. Soft at first. Then fierce. Like rain over thunder. Like something regrowing from ash.


Tia closed her eyes.


And for a moment, she wasn’t on the defense.


She was free.


Later, as they sat on the floor, legs tangled, Nova leaned over and whispered:


“You ever think about what’s next?”


Tia shrugged. “All the time. But the future’s always been a room I couldn’t afford to walk into.”


Nova reached out and tapped the silver chain still hanging around her neck.


“You already opened the door.”


The next morning, Maya met Tia at the community center Darius was helping run. They stood outside while Maya handed her a folded flyer.


“Thought you should see this.”


Tia opened it.


The Roses Program – Launching Soon

For survivors. By survivors. Mic nights, healing workshops, and unapologetic truth.

Hosted by: Tia Monroe


Her chest tightened.


“You serious?”


Maya smiled. “I booked the room. Cee’s cosigning it. You just need to show up.”


Tia nodded slowly.


Then tucked the flyer into her jacket.


Not just as a plan—


But as proof.


That she no longer lived in the place where pain used to sleep.