Hello.
It's been a few years.
A little more than 7 years, to be exact, since I took down Laced and Shadow.
And to be honest, I don't know if anyone is still on here, but everything that happened here has always felt like an unclosed chapter in my life, an open wound forgotten, unstitched, festering.
I know I have gone MIA without any explanation, and I apologize for this. I have always had this book, Wattpad, my readers, and the whole community on my mind since everything went down, even over 7 years later. I miss it so much.
I owe you all an explanation.
At the time, I had a few family members come across my account. Now, this may not seem like a big deal. At most, maybe embarrassing. But I come from a conservative religious family that I was living with at the time, and to them, what I had written was whatever you want to call it -- sinful, evil, profane, worthy of damnation. You get my drift.
And maybe their words were just a threat, but I really, truly, feared for my safety. I wasn't left with another choice, so I took down my work. I wasn't sure if they were still following me on here, if they were monitoring my account, if they were keeping tabs on everything I would publish.
So I went MIA.
In all honesty, coming back on here to see everything that had been taken away from me was so, so painful. I scrolled through every single message and comment asking me why I had taken down my stories, or when I was planning to re-upload them, and I had no answers for anyone. I did not know who I could and couldn't trust, and I did not want my explanations to be commented on my wall where they could be read by those same family members. So I had to grieve alone. I tried to continue with some of the stories I had that had no "scandalous" content, but being on here kept reopening those wounds, reminding me of everything I had lost.
This story, all of my characters, all of my storylines, and most importantly, all of you.
You all felt like family to me.
And it felt like you were all ripped away from me.
I'm so sorry.
After countless sessions and discussions in therapy, I've decided to revisit Laced. I don't know if anyone is still on here, but if you are, I've missed you. Being on Wattpad brings back all that sadness and grief, but I'm looking to close this chapter, for good.
Welcome back.