Chapter 18 - HOME A year later, the house felt different.
The hidden wall had been removed.
The secret room was gone.
We turned the space into a small library.
Perrin called it the “no-more-secrets room.”
Serena laughed whenever he said it.
We never forgot what happened.
But we stopped letting it define us.
Perrin started school.
Serena began working with organizations that helped victims of unlawful confinement and medical abuse.
I rebuilt the company.
Slowly.
Honestly.
One evening, I found Serena standing in the backyard watching Perrin ride his bicycle.
“You're smiling,” I said.
“So are you.”
“I forgot how.”
She took my hand.
“You remembered.”
The sunset turned the sky gold.
May you like
For the first time in years, the future didn't feel like something we had to fear.
It felt like something we could choose.
