Chapter 21: The First Walk
For months, I’d been trapped inside this house — inside myself — with nothing but memories for company. The mansion slept like a beast, its long hallways breathing shadows, its walls carrying echoes of laughter that didn’t belong to me anymore.
But tonight felt different.
The air carried something electric, a whisper of possibility. The moon hung above the garden like a watchful eye, and the silver light that spilled through my window seemed to call me by name.
I sat in my wheelchair by the edge of the bed, my body restless, my soul even more so. I’d spent the evening pretending to read, the same page staring back at me for hours. Every few minutes, I’d hear the faint ticking of the grandfather clock down the hall — a cruel reminder of time moving on while I
