Fear doesn’t knock.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡia0wkd1cAp
It seeps.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdilosmUKNi
Through cracks in walls,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlf60ShjP6
through the silence between your heartbeat and your breath.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwlkQhdVLZ
Mine wore the name claustrophobia,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJmz2CC5Sw
but what I felt was older than labels.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7o7n3HMCjj
It was a memory carved into bone.
It began when I was eight.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotbPuTofK8
My brother had gone down into the cellar to find a flashlight.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1NME3Vb5j
He joked as he went,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFd9O5ohyE
grinning over his shoulder,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoFbvXWZ1f
“Don’t let the dark eat you, little ghost.”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ963NWFwfmx
The door shut.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIXT67Ybyn
And the dark did not eat me.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2FVUp7Mz8
It devoured something else—my trust in space, in air, in doors that opened back up.
He came back. I didn’t.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKG8fZo5qZ
Not really.
From that day, every closed space whispered betrayal.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5fjBPvHql
Walls pulsed like veins around me.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVysiYlEY4
Rooms became traps.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxAYUZQxwX
Time slowed.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfzAySPEs4
Air thinned.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSBVYQIduu
And the world narrowed to wherever I could run without turning a doorknob.
I learned to live wide.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvuA7H1Nn9
Open skies. Cafés with exit signs visible from every table.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qlGIBhLXB
No subways. No tunnels.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRLgRJJqaB
No dreams that came with office buildings,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOmygOmqEP
elevators, or long interviews behind glass walls.
Then came that day—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYUJpGJvLb
the job that could change my life.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXYH46QXmI
Floor 32.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48w9WPIrju
No stairs permitted for visitors.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt898s7J3l
Only a small, chrome box waiting to close its jaw around me.
I stood there—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmF3wSwKcr
between the life I had and the one I wanted.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiSObzpJpX
Between memory and motion.
My fingers trembled on the elevator button.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xF24xX8un
The receptionist smiled politely.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEhHQELLgu
“Everything alright?”22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7OxeAEWgv
I nodded.
And I stepped in.
The doors closed.
The panic rose fast,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNe70iUhTuU
like floodwater in my throat.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55BXD7tnUn
My lungs rebelled.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OtrLtQUeV
I was eight again, trapped under the weight of something unseen.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScGcaBXONO
I wanted to scream, claw, hit stop.
But this time,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bktPBOARK
I did not run.
I let the fear rise.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47yo8Ddauj
And fall.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6UPQk23Je
And rise again.
I spoke to it—not with defiance, but recognition.
“I know you.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBmn7gJtnJ
You kept me safe once.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mYu8peShs
But I don’t need you anymore.”
The elevator breathed—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhX3h6cUyQ
or maybe I did.
When the doors opened, I walked out—not just onto the 32nd floor,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83PZJswnQo
but into the rest of my life.
That night, I closed myself in the bathroom.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtD78uKSEC
Lights off.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdNeRk451O
No window.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlFbMtkn5a
And I stayed.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hemwB3YEn
Hands steady.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvI7XLsWmfX
Breath soft.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ayxh6ZoFu
Alone.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFWsKfQxAU
Free.
Because fear may return.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6TXK7QunA
But now, I know the way out—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsk9pxdDeG
and more importantly,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKDwAv7eZQ
I know the way through.
