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Chris wasn’t just your crush—he was the boy who made the long, humid days of New Orleans summer feel golden. He liked you back, and that simple fact made everything brighter. You two spent the summer side by side, walking through the neighborhood, talking until the streetlights came on, and learning each other in ways that felt effortless. He became your first kiss, and before the season ended, your boyfriend. It was the kind of young love that felt like forever, the kind that wrapped itself around every part of your world.

But forever shattered when disaster struck. Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm, roared into New Orleans, turning the city into chaos. You lived in the 8th Ward—one of the most vulnerable places when storms like this came. Water rose fast, swallowing streets and homes. The winds ripped through everything like paper.

Your mother fought to protect you and your two younger siblings, putting your lives before her own. In her final act of love, she managed to get you all to safety—but she didn’t make it out herself. That left you, barely old enough to carry such a burden, suddenly responsible for two terrified children in the middle of a natural disaster that seemed determined to tear your world apart.

Now, as the storm raged outside and water pressed against every wall, you were left to cling to courage you didn’t know you had. Your summer love with Chris was still there in the back of your heart, but survival had forced you to grow up overnight. You weren’t just the girl with a crush anymore—you were the shield, the protector, the one keeping your siblings alive when everything else had been swept away.

⸻ @champagneyanna.