Chapter 9
The First Step Away
Leaving didn't happen overnight.
It wasn't dramatic.
No big goodbye.
No final speech.
Just small steps.
I started creating distance.
Mentally first.
I stopped expecting them to understand me.
Stopped waiting for validation that never came.
And then physically.
Spending more time outside.
Staying longer in places where I could breathe.
Places where no one was watching me, judging me, measuring me.
And slowly…
I started noticing something different.
The world wasn't as heavy out there.
People could be… kind.
Not all of them.
But some.
Enough to make me question everything I had believed about myself.
Maybe I wasn't too much.
Maybe I had just been in a place that didn't know how to hold me.
That thought changed everything.
Because for the first time, i didn't just want to escape.
I wanted to find something better.