I learned early what it meant to sit in pain with no witness. No soft words. No hands reaching in. Just silence-and me learning how to breathe through it. I became the one who stayed. The one who listened. The one who stitched myself back together when everything felt like it was falling apart. So when I say I don't need anyone, it isn't pride. It isn't anger. It's history. It's knowing how to hold my own heart through the darkest hours. It's building peace with empty hands. It's learning to stand steady because no one arrived when it mattered most.