That was all, and for one, it was enough. But for the other, it was simply the beginning of searching.
For what, she did not know. She only knew that there was More. That there was Something Else that she needed, and she longed for it desperately.
And so she began searching, high and low, in the lowest of the low, in all the places she shouldn't have gone, but no one had ever warned her otherwise. She found what she thought was the perfect answer, and she gobbled it up hungrily. Ravenous, she took all, because she didn't know that it wasn't meant for her, yet.
Somehow, it overtook her. Consumed her life and became her everything. She gloried in this newfound knowledge, thinking it was the end-all and be-all of what she had sought.
And then, a conversation. A question was asked and a conversation followed. And another. And another. Until she learned that maybe, this whole trust thing was ok. That people cared.
She found out that there were Others Like Her. People who had questioned, and sought, and found that-which-wasn't-the-right-answer. She laughed and cried with them, as they shared the pain they had experienced at the hands of The Lie. All it took was one just like herself, to say "yes, I have been to That Place too", and she broke down. Not outwardly, of course. (To do so would be to show weakness.) But inside, little by little, the parts of her that had been dead for so long went away and were gone, and she felt such beautiful relief.
The Love overwhelmed her, and made her want more. But this time, she would search in the Right Places. She would journey with those who she could lean on. And together they would investigate the Truth, wherever they could find it.
Really, it all just boiled down to vulnerability. To the openness and willingness to say "You are telling me my own story". To faith in the future.
Ultimately, to Hope.
Hope that even though she couldn't see it right then, Something Better was coming in the future.