Fear doesn’t knock.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbilypOyHy
It seeps.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUWKYhD4Ly
Through cracks in walls,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1L2AzCRoju
through the silence between your heartbeat and your breath.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1IrUVkyLQ
Mine wore the name claustrophobia,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAl86O7J8K
but what I felt was older than labels.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gPm4UkSV4
It was a memory carved into bone.
It began when I was eight.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnbmY0tiVA
My brother had gone down into the cellar to find a flashlight.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFkLXQEixW
He joked as he went,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFG6xNphS2
grinning over his shoulder,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbU60ivdmy
“Don’t let the dark eat you, little ghost.”68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEmb3HLml2
The door shut.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyP2jTfsHu
And the dark did not eat me.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChPQ8qoEoS
It devoured something else—my trust in space, in air, in doors that opened back up.
He came back. I didn’t.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWr7nb5iQQm
Not really.
From that day, every closed space whispered betrayal.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpECeMrLmJZ
Walls pulsed like veins around me.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJgMJiRGTW
Rooms became traps.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0shDia2UPo
Time slowed.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9w3qjQSNWg
Air thinned.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0GfgSTkgh
And the world narrowed to wherever I could run without turning a doorknob.
I learned to live wide.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8663KLG61x
Open skies. Cafés with exit signs visible from every table.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpB2dNOWFf
No subways. No tunnels.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTBH2ubJXX
No dreams that came with office buildings,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpri7Ouggb0
elevators, or long interviews behind glass walls.
Then came that day—68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnVBBQOkgE
the job that could change my life.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZC50CoL4KR
Floor 32.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GV9F6xGHr
No stairs permitted for visitors.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRoBnMOiLU
Only a small, chrome box waiting to close its jaw around me.
I stood there—68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGjxg1UOdo
between the life I had and the one I wanted.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrJRIp4EjY
Between memory and motion.
My fingers trembled on the elevator button.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnt7frnIRUR
The receptionist smiled politely.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Dppt74VJ3
“Everything alright?”68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeS23o6vMZx
I nodded.
And I stepped in.
The doors closed.
The panic rose fast,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHszYe2P4r
like floodwater in my throat.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcV8QAoOxO
My lungs rebelled.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5SNQ9gjtP
I was eight again, trapped under the weight of something unseen.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqt4K9V7Ntm
I wanted to scream, claw, hit stop.
But this time,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkZiamjAiY
I did not run.
I let the fear rise.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHsBm6xFvq
And fall.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPOxxDn88k
And rise again.
I spoke to it—not with defiance, but recognition.
“I know you.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupHzlpljTd
You kept me safe once.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxIepQHZVd
But I don’t need you anymore.”
The elevator breathed—68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxasvfdC2k
or maybe I did.
When the doors opened, I walked out—not just onto the 32nd floor,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKw6RPmJq7i
but into the rest of my life.
That night, I closed myself in the bathroom.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkiJzD5sFv
Lights off.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOa0AjCSE4
No window.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkBHBb18B0
And I stayed.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxJ7yacCpR
Hands steady.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX84dwZOEgO
Breath soft.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8QfVVRp3b
Alone.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFivyOyyPFp
Free.
Because fear may return.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFsRoX92Ji
But now, I know the way out—68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECgqAGyfnd
and more importantly,68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wTPIAa4km
I know the way through.
and then Add to home screen.