Sneaking Out To See Mum

(by Nicola Asare)

It started last spring. I felt lost and unwell. Eventually I saw my doctor, who prescribed antidepressants. I was going through a serious depression and didn’t even know it. But my mum knew what was happening before I did, recognizing the symptoms and preparing me for the journey ahead.

When I was younger, I didn’t know my mother. I was raised by my father, who didn’t allow me to see her, although I would disobey his instructions and sneak out to visit her. When I was ten, my father sent me to Ghana, his homeland, to live with his sister. I returned to England, and my mother came into my life, when I was 13.