Chapter 5 — The Escape
The night smelled of rain and gasoline.
Arin crouched behind the old shed at the edge of town, heart hammering like a drum. Every sound felt magnified—the creak of a branch, the whisper of wind, the distant bark of a dog.
He checked his small bag one last time. Just the essentials. A change of clothes. A notebook. A knife. And the letter he'd never send.
"You ready?" he muttered to himself, voice shaking.
The answer came from the shadows. Only the echo of his own heartbeat.
He had rehearsed this a hundred times. Every step, every movement, every sound calculated. One mistake and they'd find him.
One mistake and everything he was running from would catch him.
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Downstairs, the faint creak of the floorboards told him his parents were moving around.
"…They'll never know I left," he whispered.
"I'll be… gone. Invisible."
He opened the window slowly, feeling the cold rain on his face. Freedom tasted bitter and sweet all at once.
Then came a sound—a soft groan from his bedroom floor.
Neel.
"Arin…?" Neel's voice trembled.
Arin froze.
"…Go back to sleep," he said quietly.
"No… wait—what—?"
Arin didn't answer. He couldn't. He slid through the window, feeling the wind tear at him, the rain soak him, and the weight of everything he was leaving behind crush him.
He landed in the alley and ran.
Every step felt like cutting ties with his old life. Every breath screamed:
"I exist. I exist. I exist."
By the time dawn broke, he was gone.
Vanished.
And the house—his cage—was left empty.