Chapter 270
The bus hissed to a stop.
The doors folded open with a tired sigh, and I stepped down onto the cracked pavement of my street. The evening air wrapped around me. It was cooler now, carrying the faint, sweet scent of jasmine from the neighbor's garden. Somewhere behind the row of houses, a dog barked once, then fell silent.
I stood there for a moment, letting the world settle.
My bag hung heavy on my shoulder. My ankle throbbed with a dull, persistent ache. But the weight pressing on my chest was heavier than any of that. Heavier than the exhaustion pulling at my bones.
I started walking.
The street was quiet. The same cracked pavement I had walked since childhood. The same old trees with their gnarled roots pushing through the concrete. The same flickering streetlight at the corner that the city never bothered to fix.
But today, everything felt different. Heavier.
The front gate creaked as I pushed it open.
