Prom night was supposed to be something I’d just get through.
Smile when needed. Stay quiet. Go home.
That was the plan.
But everything changed the moment I walked down the stairs.
I was wearing a dress I had made myself—from my father’s old army uniform.
Not because it was perfect.
Because it was his.
Every stitch meant something. Every piece of fabric carried a memory I wasn’t ready to let go of.
He had taught me how to sew when I was younger. Back when life still felt… whole.
After he died, the house changed.
It stopped feeling like mine.
I became someone who just lived there.
Did chores. Stayed out of the way. Kept quiet.
So I worked on the dress at night. Slowly. Carefully. Like I was holding on to something that mattered.
And when it was finally done… I knew.
