0zlo

Twenty years after fathering Carrie's son, Ozlo choicefully surrendered to his inner demons. Despite living in a quaint cottage that Carrie had graciously given him, one that was nestled in the rolling hills of the South African landscape, and despite all the support that she offered year after year, Ozlo could not quell his inner turmoil. The vibrant wildflowers and not-so-distant calls of wildlife stood in stark contrast to his inner desolation. A short and direct letter, penned with his very own hands, bid farewell, leaving his son and ex-wife adrift in a sea of unanswered questions. Those who knew him had silently feared this outcome, their unspoken worries now a sad reality.
Carrie's body became a battlefield of emotions—throat constricted as if grasping for words never spoken, belly churning with guilt and regret, sacrum aflame with a pain that defied physicality. For two decades, she had feared this outcome while desperately trying to prevent it. Now, her perceived failure to keep Ozlo tethered to the sacredness of life consumed her as her heart ached for her son who had lost his father long before that day.
Anger had been her silent and constant companion—at Ozlo for his weakness, at herself for choosing a man incapable of bearing life. This fury was buried even as she spent years offering him anything, everything that he might have needed to choose life - for the sake of her son. As she crumpled onto the bed, her body finally yielded to the weight of it all. A strange mix of rage and grief coursed through her veins, no longer restrained by will or propriety. He. Was. Gone. In the moments following her episode of complete surrender, Carrie found an unexpected fullness, a quiet power that surprisingly needed no voice or action.
She witnessed dawn rising that next morning, casting long shadows across her room. Blame dissolved along with the morning mist and she could finally recognize their shared innocence—hers and Ozlo's—two souls entangled in life's complex dance. Peace began to settle in, no longer crushed by the weight of her youthful choices.
Carrie could now honor Ozlo as the one, the only one who could be her son's father while simultaneously acknowledging her inability to share her own life with him. She gave him his dignity by embracing him in the silence of her heart and returned the guilt and shame she carried for him in her dire attempts to heal his soul. She whispered a bittersweet farewell, releasing him and herself from the bonds of long-lost desire and finally found her freedom.