She didn't talk about the voices. Or the fear. Or the ache that never left her.

In The Things She Held Back, Grace Holloway shares the quiet, powerful story of a mother living with schizophrenia—and the daughter who watched her fight to protect what little peace she could. Through journal entries, fragments of memory, and the raw honesty of lived experience, this short story reveals the love hidden beneath silence, and the strength it takes to hold back the storm for someone else's sake.

This is a story of mental illness, generational healing, and the unspoken ways mothers try to protect their children—even when words fail them.