There comes a point in life when things begin to go astray.
You rarely notice it when it happens. In the moment, it feels small. Ordinary, even. A choice made under pressure. A path taken because it seems no worse than the others.
The world does not stop to warn you. No voice announces that you have stepped onto the wrong road. The sky does not darken. The ground does not split open beneath your feet. Life simply continues.
And so you keep going.
A day passes. Then a week. Then months. Consequences do not arrive all at once. It gathers. Stacking themselves one over another. Subtle at first, then harder to ignore.
A compromise leads to another. One failure forces a second. One wound festers beneath the next.
By the time you understand that something has gone terribly wrong, there is already too much blood behind you to pretend otherwise.
Only then do you look back.
