The metal gates of the detention center creaked open under the afternoon sun, the sound sharp and unforgiving, echoing through the empty courtyard like a warning. Bradley stepped forward, one foot crossing the line first, as though he were testing whether the ground outside was real. His polished leather shoes, now scuffed and dulled from days of confinement, made contact with the pavement beyond the threshold, and he paused, drawing in a breath that felt foreign in his lungs.The air felt different out here; thinner somehow, stripped of the authority and comfort he had always taken for granted. Inside, everything had been contained, controlled, predictable in its misery. Out here, the world sprawled endlessly before him, indifferent and unforgiving. For the first time in his life, freedom did not feel like relief. It felt like exposure. Like standing naked before a jury that had already reached its verdict.An officer called his name, the tone flat and bureaucratic, and extended
Last Updated : 2025-12-30 Read more