Chapter 1
Prologue
“Some mistakes don’t feel like mistakes until you’ve already built your life around them.”
Looking back, there were probably several moments when I could’ve stopped and asked myself what exactly I was getting into.
I just never did.
At first, everything still felt manageable. A few choices I thought I understood. A few things I decided were easier not to question. I kept telling myself that as long as I stayed careful and didn’t look too far ahead, nothing would become more complicated than I could handle.
That was stupid.
Because somewhere along the way, small decisions stopped feeling small. People I never expected to matter started becoming impossible to ignore, and things I thought had nothing to do with me somehow found their way into my life anyway.
By the time I finally noticed how far everything had gone, turning around didn’t feel simple anymore.
The strangest part was that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to.
So I stayed.
Even when things became harder to explain. Even when I started wondering how much of what was happening had actually been my choice, and how much I had simply allowed to happen because leaving seemed worse.
Looking back, I probably should’ve seen it coming.
But then again, I’ve never been very good at recognizing trouble while it’s still far enough away to avoid.
Usually, I only notice once it already knows my name.
