Shadow from the Past
The lecture hall was packed. Favour stood at the podium at Harvard's Kennedy School her first guest talk.
She wore a white Ankara-patterned suit, glowing against the maroon curtains. Students filled the rows, notebooks open, phones recording.
"I want to talk about masks," she began. "The kind women wear to seem soft, silent, safe."
They were captivated.
Then, as the applause rose, she saw her.
Esther.
Her old friend from Delta State University the one who once told Favour she'd "never be wife material."
Esther stood near the back, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
Favour's voice almost caught but she didn't break.
Afterward, Esther approached.
"You're not the girl I left in Abraka," she said quietly.
"No," Favour said. "I'm not."
Esther looked at her with something between jealousy and admiration. "Be careful. You're becoming a symbol. And symbols get targeted."
Favour stared.
"Is that a threat?"
"A warning," Esther said. "Not everyone in your past has let go. Some still want you broken."
She turned and walked away.
Favour stood frozen.
Even here?
But the applause still echoed from inside. And Daniel's text buzzed on her phone:
"You were brilliant. Proud doesn't even cover it."
And just like that, she smiled.
Not every ghost had power anymore.