Chapter 1 four walls
*THE LIGHTS WE OWE*
*Chapter 1: Four Walls*
I stopped counting the days after year three.
Four walls. One door that never opened. One light that buzzed and died every night at 8pm.
They told me the world outside was dangerous.
That I wasn’t ready.
That I should be grateful.
Grateful for what? For dust on my name? For the silence that got so loud it started talking back?
My name is Lexi.
And tonight, the door opened.
Not because someone let me out.
But because I finally stopped waiting to be let out.
My hands were shaking when I touched the handle. Cold. Rusty. Real.
The hallway smelled like rain and something else… like freedom. Like fear.
And then I saw him.
Lan.
The boy from the photos they said I wasn’t allowed to keep.
Standing under the exit light with scars on his knuckles and my name on his lips.
"You came," he whispered.
"I had to," I said. "I owe us the light."
He reached for my hand.
And just like that, the dark didn't win.
