The road stretched out in front of them like a promise.
Maya watched the landscape change through the window—the mountains giving way to rolling hills, the hills flattening into wide open plains. The sky was endless, a pale blue that seemed to go on forever. She hadn't felt this free in years. Maybe ever. The wind whipped through the crack in the window, carrying the scent of dry grass and dust and something clean and open. She let it fill her lungs, let it chase out the last of the shadows that had been clinging to her chest. She felt like she could breathe for the first time in months. Like the weight she'd been carrying had finally started to lift. She leaned her head against the window, watched the world blur past, and let herself just be. The rhythm of the tires on the asphalt was hy
