Chapter Ten - The Chapter That Almost Lets You Go

CHAPTER TEN

The Chapter That Almost Lets You Go

THIS ONE’S… GENTLER.
There’s no door closing.
No whisper in the wall.
No flickering shadow shaped like something you’d rather not name.

Just quiet.

Just peace.

The kind of peace you feel when you wake from a nightmare and realize it’s over, until you notice the marks on your arms.
Or the water on the floor.
Or that the window’s open, and it wasn’t before.

But you don’t notice any of that yet.

Right now, this chapter feels warm.
Even kind.

It tells you, you’re safe.
You’re not.
But it tells you.

It lets you breathe.
It lets you think, maybe this book isn’t what you feared it was.
Maybe it’s just a story after all.

It’s in that moment when you feel your pulse slow down and your shoulders ease.

That’s when it gets in.

Not through fear.
Through permission.

Because the scariest story isn’t the one that chases you.
It’s the one that makes you sit down, get comfortable, and invite it in.