Freedom Without Ceremony

Years later, Elias walked freely again. The gates closed behind him without

ceremony. No music, no announcement. Just the dull finality of metal

meeting metal. Freedom, he learned, did not arrive as a rush.

It arrived as space, as air, as the absence of walls telling

him where he could stand. The world had moved on without him.

Streets looked familiar but felt rearranged, like a dream remembered imperfectly. Elias carried a

single box of belongings and a life that no longer needed to be

hidden. Mara was waiting across the street. They did not run to each