- 2 days ago
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00I used to think I was good at hiding fear.
00:02You learn to fake calm when you're raising a child alone.
00:05But that night, God that night, it wasn't fear I was hiding.
00:08It was desperation.
00:10It had been three days since rent was due.
00:12The landlord had already left one of those notes on the door.
00:15Red letters, folded with fake politeness.
00:18I didn't have the money.
00:19I didn't even have gas in the car.
00:21My son Noah was asleep on the couch.
00:24Small arms wrapped around that tattered blue dinosaur he carried everywhere.
00:28I remember sitting there, watching him breathe and thinking,
00:30I'll find a way.
00:33I always do.
00:34Turns out, I didn't.
00:36He disappeared the next afternoon.
00:38It wasn't like in the movies.
00:40No screaming, no dramatic chase.
00:42I turned around for one second at the corner store, and he was gone.
00:46The world just went silent.
00:50One second, I was comparing the price of milk,
00:52and the next, I couldn't hear my own heartbeat.
00:55I ran outside, calling his name.
00:58No one had seen him.
01:00I remember the way the air burned in my throat when I screamed.
01:03People stared, but didn't help.
01:05They just kept walking.
01:07By the time I found his shoe in the parking lot, I couldn't breathe.
01:10It was the kind of terror that makes you forget language.
01:13I called the police, of course.
01:15They promised to look into it.
01:17But every second felt like a blade pressed against my skin.
01:21I went door to door through the whole block, knocking until my hands bled.
01:25No one had seen a little boy with curly hair and a blue shirt, until one man did.
01:31He was a security guard outside a black steel gate.
01:34Too fancy for our part of town.
01:37He didn't even look at me when I begged him to open it.
01:39He just said,
01:40A black car came through an hour ago.
01:43There was a kid in the back seat.
01:45Crying.
01:46He pointed toward the mansion behind the gate.
01:48That's how I ended up there.
01:50On his doorstep.
01:51At night, I don't remember the drive.
01:53I just remember my knuckles bleeding from pounding on the door.
01:56My voice cracking as I shouted Noah's name.
01:59And then the door opened.
02:01He stood there.
02:03Tall.
02:05Cold.
02:06The kind of presence that fills every inch of space.
02:09He looked down at me like he was trying to decide whether I was trouble or trash.
02:13His shirt, white, sleeves rolled to his forearms, was half unbuttoned, and his expression didn't
02:20move when I tried to speak.
02:23My son, I gasped.
02:26Please, someone took him.
02:28They brought him here.
02:29I just want my boy.
02:30He didn't answer right away.
02:32His eyes flicked past me, scanning the dark, like he was used to danger being just out of
02:36sight.
02:38Then he said in a low voice that almost didn't sound real.
02:41Describe him, I told him.
02:44Every word shook.
02:45He didn't speak again.
02:46He just turned, walked into the house, and left me standing there.
02:51For thirty seconds, I thought I'd imagined it all.
02:54Then I heard a door open inside, and a small voice, Noah's voice, called,
02:59Mommy?
03:01I broke.
03:02I don't remember crossing the threshold.
03:04I just remember dropping to my knees and holding him so tight he squealed.
03:08His face was dirty.
03:09His eyes read from crying.
03:11The man stood in the hallway behind us, arms folded, watching.
03:14He said he knocked on my door.
03:16What?
03:17Your boy.
03:18He walked here, alone.
03:20Said his mom told him to find the house with the Lion Gate.
03:24I...
03:24I never...
03:26My words stumbled over themselves.
03:28I never told him.
03:30He looked at me like he already knew I was lying.
03:33Or like he didn't care whether I was.
03:35I sent someone to find where he came from.
03:38He said.
03:39There was no one.
03:40No address.
03:41No neighbors who knew you.
03:42Because we'd moved too many times.
03:44Because I'd been hiding.
03:46He took a step closer.
03:47You running from something, sweetheart?
03:49That word.
03:50It sounded wrong coming from him.
03:52Too intimate.
03:53Too heavy.
03:54I just want to take him and leave.
03:56I said, holding Noah close.
03:58He crouched down, eyes level with my son.
04:01You know who I am, little man?
04:03Noah shook his head.
04:05Good.
04:06He said softly.
04:07Then stood again, turning that same gaze on me.
04:10You shouldn't have come here.
04:12I didn't mean to.
04:14He smiled a little, but it wasn't kindness.
04:16No one ever does.
04:17I tried to walk past him, but his hand shot out, fingers closing around my wrist.
04:23Not rough, but final.
04:26Someone will come looking for you now, he said.
04:29That's how this works.
04:30You don't get to knock on my door and disappear.
04:33I didn't knock.
04:34He did.
04:35I snapped, heart pounding.
04:37He's a child, which is why you're both staying.
04:41For now.
04:42I remember the way he said it.
04:43So calm.
04:44Like he was making a business decision.
04:47And maybe he was.
04:49I wanted to scream.
04:50But Noah clung to me, whispering.
04:53Mommy, don't make him mad.
04:55That was the moment I realized he wasn't just dangerous.
04:58He was feared.
05:00Even by my child, he let us inside.
05:02I should have run.
05:03I should have fought.
05:04But I was exhausted.
05:05And Noah needed food, warmth, safety.
05:09Every survival instinct I had screamed to wait.
05:13The mansion was silent except for the ticking of a clock somewhere.
05:16He motioned to a woman at the end of the hall,
05:19gray dress, no expression, and said,
05:22Get them cleaned up.
05:24I started to protest, but he cut me off.
05:28You're not in danger here,
05:30unless you make yourself a problem.
05:33That line lived in my head for days.
05:36Noah fell asleep that night in a bed bigger than our old apartment.
05:40I sat by the window, staring out at the black gates,
05:43wondering what kind of man lived behind them.
05:46Wondering why my son had somehow found him.
05:49He came to see me just after midnight.
05:51No knock.
05:53He just appeared in the doorway,
05:55leaning against the frame.
05:56The light caught his eyes.
05:58Gray.
05:59Unreadable.
06:00You're shaking.
06:02He said.
06:03I didn't answer.
06:05He crossed the room.
06:06Slow.
06:07Deliberate.
06:08You think I took him.
06:09Don't you?
06:10I hesitated.
06:11Did you?
06:12He smiled faintly.
06:14If I had, you wouldn't be sitting here asking.
06:17So what do you want from us?
06:19Nothing, he said.
06:20Then, after a pause.
06:22Not yet.
06:24There was something about the way he said it that made my stomach twist.
06:28Like the yet wasn't a warning.
06:30It was a promise.
06:32He studied me for a moment, his voice dropping low.
06:36You should rest.
06:37You look like you've been running your whole life.
06:40I almost told him he wasn't wrong,
06:42but then he looked toward the bed where Noah slept,
06:45and his expression softened for just a second,
06:48like something in him remembered being human once.
06:50He turned to leave, but before he did, he said,
06:54If anyone asks, you were never here.
06:57And then he was gone.
06:59I lay awake until dawn,
07:01trying to understand how the world had flipped overnight,
07:04how my son's small knock had opened a door to a life I didn't want,
07:08but couldn't escape.
07:10By morning, the staff treated us like we belonged there.
07:13Breakfast appeared.
07:15Clothes were left folded on a chair.
07:17Noah laughed for the first time in days,
07:20and I kept waiting for the moment he'd tell us to go.
07:23It never came.
07:25Days turned into a week.
07:28He barely spoke to me.
07:30But when he did,
07:31it was with that strange mixture of authority and quiet curiosity.
07:36Like I was a puzzle he hadn't decided whether to solve or destroy.
07:41Then,
07:41On the seventh night,
07:43I made a mistake.
07:44I tried to leave.
07:46I waited until the house was silent,
07:49took Noah's hand,
07:50and slipped through the garden toward the gate.
07:52The cold air burned my lungs.
07:55We were maybe ten steps from freedom
07:56when headlights flared in the dark.
07:59A black car blocked the exit.
08:01He got out.
08:02No shirt this time.
08:04Just black slacks.
08:05A holstered gun.
08:06And that same unreadable face.
08:08Going somewhere?
08:09His voice was calm.
08:11Too calm.
08:12My heart thrashed in my chest.
08:14Please.
08:15We don't belong here.
08:17He walked closer.
08:18Slow enough to make me shake.
08:20Then he knelt in front of Noah again,
08:22hand resting lightly on the boy's shoulder.
08:25You scared your mother,
08:27he said softly.
08:28Don't do that again.
08:30Then he looked up at me.
08:32You scared me.
08:33I blinked,
08:34unsure if I'd heard right.
08:35He straightened.
08:36I said you're not leaving again.
08:39And that's when it hit me.
08:40Not just the fear,
08:42but the truth.
08:43He wasn't keeping us for protection.
08:45He wasn't doing this out of pity or power.
08:48He'd already decided we belonged to him.
08:50And I hated how a part of me,
08:52deep down,
08:53didn't want to run anymore.
08:54People talk about cages like they're built from iron.
09:01The truth is,
09:03mine was made of comfort.
09:04Soft sheets.
09:05Quiet halls.
09:06Three meals a day served with silver cutlery.
09:09My son laughing again.
09:11And the man whose house it was,
09:13the man whose name no one said out loud,
09:15watched from the edges of it all,
09:17like a shadow that decided to stay.
09:20His name was Roman.
09:22I learned that not from him,
09:24but from the way people said it when they thought I couldn't hear.
09:27Always quiet.
09:28Always careful.
09:29Like the name itself could bring trouble.
09:31He didn't talk much those first weeks.
09:33He just appeared.
09:35In the hallways.
09:36On the terrace.
09:37Sometimes in the doorway while I read to Noah at night.
09:40He never interrupted,
09:42just listened.
09:43Then disappeared again like smoke.
09:44I told myself it didn't mean anything.
09:47That he was just keeping an eye on us.
09:50But I felt it.
09:52The way he changed the air when he entered a room.
09:54The way the staff froze.
09:56The way my pulse betrayed me every single time.
10:00One night,
10:01I found him in the kitchen,
10:02sleeves rolled,
10:03drinking something dark and expensive.
10:06His shirt was unbuttoned again.
10:08He never seemed to finish buttoning it.
10:09And there was a small scar at the base of his throat.
10:13He looked up,
10:14half smiling.
10:16Couldn't sleep?
10:17I shook my head.
10:19You?
10:19Never do.
10:20He nodded toward the empty stool beside him.
10:23Sit.
10:23I should have said no.
10:25But something about his tone.
10:27It wasn't in order this time.
10:29It was almost human.
10:31So I sat.
10:32He poured me a glass.
10:33I didn't drink.
10:34You're not afraid of me anymore.
10:36He said.
10:37I forced a laugh.
10:38That's generous of you to assume.
10:40He watched me too closely,
10:42like he was reading something beneath my skin.
10:45You should be.
10:46I'm not the kind of man you pray for.
10:48I'm the one people pray about.
10:50There was no arrogance in his voice.
10:53Just truth.
10:53Then why let us stay?
10:55I asked.
10:55He looked down,
10:56swirling the drink.
10:57Because your boy reminds me of something I lost.
11:00What did you lose?
11:02He didn't answer.
11:04His jaw tightened,
11:05and the silence filled the room until I couldn't breathe.
11:08When I finally stood to leave,
11:10he said quietly,
11:11You shouldn't try to run again.
11:14Not because I'd stop you,
11:16but because out there,
11:17you wouldn't make it.
11:18Someone's already looking for you.
11:20I turned, startled.
11:22What do you mean?
11:23He met my eyes, steady.
11:24A man came to the gate three days ago,
11:27asked if a woman with a child had been seen in the area,
11:29said he was your husband.
11:31My blood went cold.
11:33He's not,
11:34I whispered.
11:35He's not my husband.
11:37Roman's voice dropped lower.
11:39Then who is he?
11:40Someone I ran from.
11:42Something in him shifted then.
11:43Not pity,
11:44but recognition.
11:46Like we both understood what it meant to be haunted by someone who didn't deserve to live in our memory.
11:51He nodded once.
11:53You're safe here.
11:54But safety in his house felt like standing too close to a storm.
12:00You could smell the danger before you saw it.
12:03Days passed.
12:05He started talking more.
12:07Sometimes to me,
12:08sometimes to Noah.
12:10My son adored him.
12:11Of course he did.
12:12Roman had that quiet authority that children instinctively trusted.
12:16He'd let Noah feed the dogs,
12:18walk beside him in the garden,
12:20listen while he talked about cars and stars
12:22and old stories that sounded half like fairy tales and half like warnings.
12:27And me?
12:28I pretended not to watch.
12:29But I did.
12:30Every time.
12:32One afternoon,
12:33I found myself standing at the balcony above his office.
12:37The door below was half open,
12:38and his voice drifted up.
12:40Low.
12:41Controlled.
12:42Dangerous.
12:43She's off limits,
12:45he was saying.
12:46The woman and the boy.
12:47No one touches them.
12:48A second voice responded, nervous.
12:50Boss,
12:51you can't just take in strays.
12:52People talk.
12:53I don't care what people say.
12:55You care when they start asking why.
12:57A pause.
12:58Then Roman's tone dropped to something colder.
13:01Anyone who asks why doesn't live long enough to hear the answer.
13:05Something in me broke at that line.
13:08Not from fear,
13:09but from the way he said it like it cost him something to mean it.
13:13Later that night, I saw him again.
13:16He didn't know I'd overheard.
13:17He just appeared in the hallway.
13:19Tie undone.
13:20Eyes tired.
13:21Why do you do that?
13:23I asked before I could stop myself.
13:25He raised an eyebrow.
13:27Do what?
13:28Protect people you don't even know.
13:30He studied me for a long time, then said,
13:33Maybe I'm not protecting you.
13:35Then what are you doing?
13:38His answer came after a long silence,
13:41trying to forget I know how to destroy.
13:44The way he said it,
13:45so raw,
13:46so calm,
13:47made my chest ache.
13:49That was the night he touched me for the first time.
13:52Nothing sinful,
13:53nothing planned.
13:54He brushed a strand of hair from my face and whispered,
13:57Go to sleep, little one.
13:59The nickname startled me.
14:01No one had ever called me that before.
14:03It was tender in a way I didn't expect.
14:05I hated that my heart reacted.
14:08Over the next weeks,
14:09everything blurred into a rhythm that felt almost normal.
14:13Mornings with Noah.
14:14Quiet dinners.
14:15Roman appearing and disappearing like a ghost,
14:18who couldn't decide if he wanted to haunt or heal.
14:21Until the night the phone rang.
14:23It was past midnight.
14:25I was half asleep when I heard shouting downstairs.
14:29I crept into the hall and saw Roman standing in the foyer,
14:32holding the phone to his ear.
14:34Face stone.
14:35Who told you she was here?
14:37His voice was ice.
14:38You're making a mistake coming near my house.
14:41I knew before he hung up who it was.
14:44My past had found me.
14:45He turned,
14:47saw me on the stairs and said quietly,
14:49Pack a bag.
14:51Now.
14:52I froze.
14:54What's happening?
14:55He knows where you are.
14:58Roman.
14:58Do not argue with me.
15:00I'd seen him angry before,
15:01but never like this.
15:02His calm was gone.
15:04He was all instinct and control and rage
15:06that didn't belong in the human body.
15:08I packed whatever I could grab.
15:11Noah clung to my leg, confused.
15:13Roman waited by the door,
15:15gun holstered at his side,
15:16eyes scanning the darkness.
15:18We drove for hours.
15:20He didn't speak.
15:20The city disappeared behind us,
15:23replaced by silence and trees
15:25and the hum of the tires.
15:27When we finally stopped,
15:29it was at a cabin tucked deep in the woods.
15:32He got out first,
15:33checked the perimeter,
15:34then opened my door.
15:35You'll stay here until I handle it.
15:37Handle what?
15:38The man looking for you.
15:41Roman, you can't.
15:42He stepped closer, voice low.
15:45You think I'm going to let someone hurt you
15:46after you walked into my house
15:47like you belonged there?
15:49The way he said it made me shiver.
15:52He took Noah inside,
15:53showed him the small bedroom,
15:55made sure the windows locked.
15:57Then he turned to me.
15:58I'll be back by morning.
16:01Roman, don't do this.
16:02He looked at me for a long moment,
16:04something heavy behind his eyes.
16:06If I don't, he'll never stop.
16:08He started to walk away.
16:10I reached for his hand
16:11before I realized I had.
16:13He froze,
16:14looked down at our joined fingers and said,
16:16Don't wait up.
16:18Then he was gone.
16:19Hours passed.
16:21The silence was unbearable.
16:23Every creak of the cabin
16:24made me think I'd hear a gunshot outside.
16:27When the door finally opened near dawn,
16:30I ran to him before I could stop myself.
16:32His shirt was torn,
16:33his knuckles bleeding,
16:35his eyes darker than I'd ever seen them.
16:37He didn't speak for a long time.
16:38Just sat on the floor,
16:40leaning against the wall,
16:42breathing like the air hurt him.
16:44What did you do?
16:46I whispered.
16:47He looked up, jaw clenched.
16:48It's over.
16:50I knew what that meant.
16:51Tears burned my eyes.
16:53Roman, you didn't have to-
16:54He cut me off.
16:56I did.
16:57For a long time,
16:57neither of us spoke.
16:59The world outside was gray with dawn.
17:01He stared at the floor
17:02like he could still see the blood there.
17:04Finally, he said,
17:06You're safe now,
17:07but you don't get to leave.
17:09I felt the words before I understood them.
17:12What do you mean?
17:13He looked at me then,
17:14not angry, not cold.
17:16Just lost.
17:17You think I can let you go
17:18after what I've done for you?
17:20After what I've risked?
17:21Roman, his voice cracked just once.
17:23You and that boy walked into my house
17:25like a ghost of everything I tried to bury.
17:27I can't let you disappear again.
17:29I didn't know whether to cry or scream
17:32because part of me wanted to run
17:34and part of me didn't.
17:36He stood,
17:37stepped close enough for me to feel his breath.
17:40You don't belong to him anymore,
17:42he said.
17:43You belong here,
17:44my pulse stuttered.
17:46And what are we to you?
17:47His answer came so soft,
17:48I almost missed it.
17:50What's left of me?
17:51That was the first time he kissed me.
17:53Not tenderly.
17:55Hungry,
17:55desperate,
17:56like he was drowning
17:56and I was the last air in his lungs.
17:59I should have pushed him away.
18:00I didn't.
18:02When he finally pulled back,
18:04he whispered against my skin.
18:06I'm not a good man, little one.
18:08But I'll be damned
18:09if I ever let anyone take you again.
18:12And in that moment,
18:13I realized I'd fallen for a man
18:15who could kill without blinking
18:16and love like it was the only thing
18:18keeping him alive.
18:20I fell asleep against him
18:22as the sun rose.
18:23But when I woke,
18:25he was gone,
18:26a note sat on the table.
18:28Four words,
18:29written in his steady hand,
18:30if I don't come back,
18:32run.
18:36When you've lived your whole life in fear,
18:39peace feels like a trick,
18:40like someone's pulling a sheet over your eyes
18:42just to see if you'll flinch.
18:44The morning I woke up
18:46and Roman wasn't there,
18:47I didn't panic right away.
18:49I just stared at the empty space beside me,
18:52at the indentation on the pillow
18:54where his head had been
18:55and waited for the sound
18:56of his footsteps.
18:58It didn't come.
19:01Hours passed.
19:02Then days,
19:03no message,
19:04no car pulling up the dirt road,
19:06just the slow drip of silence
19:07that stretched
19:08until it cracked something inside me.
19:10I didn't cry.
19:12Not at first.
19:13I took care of Noah,
19:15fed him,
19:15read to him,
19:16kept him busy,
19:17pretended the world hadn't changed overnight.
19:19But when he fell asleep each night,
19:21I sat by the window
19:22and whispered his name
19:23like a prayer I didn't believe in anymore.
19:26Roman.
19:28Every time I said it,
19:30the walls seemed to answer with nothing.
19:33Then the news came,
19:35a small headline in a local paper.
19:37Violence erupts in city's south district.
19:40Sources say,
19:41crime family power shift underway.
19:44I knew.
19:45I didn't need names.
19:47The photo showed a building I recognized,
19:49the old warehouse Roman used as a front.
19:52Smoke curling up into the sky
19:54like the world was burning itself clean.
19:57I folded the paper before Noah could see it
19:59and locked myself in the bathroom to throw up.
20:03He'd gone back to that life.
20:05To the men who only respected blood and revenge.
20:08He'd gone back for me.
20:10I told myself he was dead
20:11because that was easier than hoping.
20:14We stayed in that cabin for three months.
20:16I learned how to fix leaks.
20:17How to shoot a gun he'd left in the drawer.
20:20How to make pancakes without crying.
20:22Noah grew taller.
20:23Started asking fewer questions.
20:25Children know how to adapt.
20:27Adults pretend they do.
20:29And then, one morning,
20:30I woke up and felt different.
20:32Not healed, just heavier in the right way.
20:35Grounded.
20:36I packed our things and told Noah,
20:38We're going home.
20:39He frowned.
20:41Where's home, Mommy?
20:42I didn't know how to answer.
20:44We went back to the city.
20:45The mansion was gone.
20:47Burned, boarded up,
20:48forgotten like it had never existed.
20:51I stood outside the blackened gate where it all began
20:53and felt the ghost of that night
20:55when my son knocked and everything changed.
20:58A woman sweeping the sidewalk looked up at me.
21:00You looking for someone, sweetheart?
21:03I almost laughed.
21:05Not anymore.
21:06We found a small apartment near the river.
21:09I got a job at a bookstore.
21:11Quiet.
21:12Predictable.
21:13The kind of place where no one asked about your past
21:16because everyone had something to hide.
21:19Life settled into a rhythm.
21:21I stopped jumping at every knock.
21:24I stopped expecting his voice behind me.
21:26I stopped, almost missing him,
21:28until the letter came.
21:30No return address.
21:32Just my name,
21:33written in a handwriting I could recognize in the dark.
21:36Inside, a single sheet.
21:38Heard you found peace.
21:39Keep it.
21:40Arno Signature.
21:41No explanation.
21:43I sat there staring at the words,
21:45feeling the old ache crawl up from somewhere deep.
21:48Relief.
21:49Anger.
21:51Love.
21:52It all mixed together until it felt like drowning again.
21:56For weeks, I kept the letter in a drawer.
21:59Some nights, I'd take it out and trace the ink,
22:01wondering where he was.
22:03If he still wore that white shirt with the undone buttons.
22:06If he still slept with one hand near a gun.
22:09And then,
22:11just as quietly as he disappeared,
22:13he came back.
22:15It was raining the night I saw him again.
22:18I was closing the shop when the bell above the door rang.
22:21I didn't look up right away.
22:23I was too busy locking the register.
22:25But I felt it.
22:27The way the air changed.
22:28The way my body recognized his presence before my mind did.
22:32Still working late,
22:33he said softly.
22:36My hands froze.
22:37When I turned,
22:39he was standing there.
22:40Same gray eyes.
22:42Same quiet authority.
22:43Only this time,
22:44he looked tired.
22:45Older.
22:46Like every fight he'd ever been in had finally caught up to him.
22:50I wanted to run.
22:51I wanted to scream.
22:53Instead, I whispered,
22:54you're supposed to be dead.
22:57He almost smiled.
22:58I was.
23:00For a while.
23:01I crossed my arms.
23:03More to hold myself together than to fight.
23:05Why are you here?
23:06He stepped closer.
23:08Rain still dripping from his hair.
23:10To make sure you're safe.
23:12And to tell you I'm done.
23:13Done with what?
23:14Everything.
23:15His voice cracked.
23:16The business.
23:17The blood.
23:18The ghosts.
23:19I walked away.
23:21I stared at him,
23:21trying to believe it.
23:23You can't just walk away from that world.
23:25He gave a faint shrug.
23:27I can if everyone who could stop me is gone.
23:30Something about the calm way he said it made my stomach turn.
23:34He looked around the shop.
23:36The books.
23:37The quiet.
23:38You built something real,
23:39he said.
23:40I didn't think you would.
23:42I didn't have a choice.
23:44He nodded,
23:45eyes softening.
23:47You never did.
23:48For a long time,
23:49neither of us spoke.
23:50The sound of the rain filled the silence
23:52like it was part of the conversation.
23:54Then he said,
23:55How's the boy?
23:58Growing.
23:58Smarter than me.
24:00He remembers you.
24:01Roman's mouth twitched.
24:02Yeah?
24:03He still talks about the time you let him feed the dogs.
24:06He says you didn't smile much.
24:07But when you did,
24:08it looked like the sun.
24:10He turned his head.
24:12Like he couldn't bear to hear it.
24:13I shouldn't have let you stay.
24:15Either of you.
24:17And yet you did.
24:19He looked at me then.
24:20And I saw it.
24:21The same battle I'd been fighting for years.
24:24Love against guilt.
24:25Hope against memory.
24:26I wanted to keep you safe,
24:28he said.
24:28But I only made you run harder.
24:31You saved us,
24:32I whispered.
24:33That matters,
24:34he shook his head.
24:35I don't get to be the hero.
24:37No,
24:37I said.
24:38But you were the reason we survived.
24:40He reached into his coat and pulled out a small box.
24:44For Noah.
24:45Inside was a silver coin.
24:48Old,
24:48worn,
24:49engraved with a lion.
24:51He used to stare at the gate,
24:53Roman said quietly.
24:55Said it looked like the lion was protecting us.
24:57Tell him he was right.
24:59I held the coin in my palm.
25:00It was warm from his touch.
25:02Then,
25:03before I could stop myself,
25:04I asked,
25:05Are you staying?
25:06He froze.
25:07I don't mean here,
25:08I said quickly.
25:09I just mean,
25:11in this world.
25:12In mine.
25:13He studied me.
25:14And for the first time,
25:15I saw fear in him.
25:17Not of death.
25:18Not of enemies.
25:19Of hope.
25:20I don't know how to be normal,
25:21he said.
25:22I don't know how to live without the noise.
25:25Then don't try,
25:26I said.
25:27Just be,
25:28he exhaled,
25:29slow and uncertain.
25:30You still believe in things that break you.
25:32I believe in what's left after they do.
25:37He looked at me for a long time,
25:40then stepped forward and touched my face like he wasn't sure I was real.
25:44His thumb traced the edge of my jaw.
25:47Gentle.
25:47Reverent.
25:49I missed you,
25:50he said.
25:52I didn't realize I was crying until he brushed the tears away.
25:56I waited.
25:58I whispered.
25:59Every night.
26:00I thought you were gone.
26:01I was gone.
26:02I just didn't know how to find my way back.
26:04He kissed me then.
26:06Nothing like before.
26:08No hunger,
26:08no war.
26:09Just quiet,
26:10trembling peace.
26:12When he pulled away,
26:12he said,
26:13I'm not staying long.
26:15I have to keep moving.
26:16I nodded.
26:17I know.
26:18But I needed to see you once more.
26:20To know you made it out alive.
26:22I did,
26:23I said softly.
26:24We both did.
26:25He smiled faintly like he didn't quite believe he deserved to.
26:29You did more than that.
26:31You built a life.
26:32He turned to leave.
26:34And for a moment I thought I'd let him go.
26:36But something in me rebelled against that kind of silence again.
26:40Roman,
26:41I said.
26:42He paused in the doorway.
26:44You don't have to disappear to protect me anymore.
26:48He didn't answer.
26:49He just looked back once,
26:51eyes steady,
26:52and said,
26:52I'll find my way home when I'm worthy of it.
26:55Then he was gone.
26:59Years passed.
27:02Noah grew up.
27:04He stopped carrying the dinosaur,
27:06started asking about the man who saved us.
27:08Sometimes I told him stories.
27:10Sometimes I didn't.
27:11But he always carried that silver coin,
27:14rubbing his thumb over the lion when he was scared.
27:17As for me,
27:18I learned to live without looking over my shoulder.
27:21I learned that love isn't always gentle.
27:24It's sometimes the thing that ruins you before it saves you.
27:28And every now and then,
27:29I still feel him.
27:31In the rain.
27:32In the quiet.
27:33In the way the air shifts before dawn.
27:36Like someone's watching from the edge of the world.
27:39Sometimes,
27:40when I lock the shop late at night,
27:42I glance toward the door,
27:44half expecting him to be there again.
27:46He never is.
27:47But I've stopped needing him to be.
27:49Because love doesn't always end with staying.
27:51Sometimes it ends with surviving.
27:53I don't know where he is now.
27:54Maybe he's somewhere quiet.
27:56But learning what peace feels like.
27:58Maybe he's finally free.
28:00All I know is this.
28:03The man who once lived in a house of shadows
28:05taught me how to live in the light.
28:07And somehow,
28:08after everything,
28:09we found our way home.
28:11If you've made it this far,
28:14thank you for listening to my story.
28:16For every broken heart that found its way back to love,
28:19this one was for you.
28:20If it stayed with you even a little,
28:22don't forget to subscribe,
28:24like,
28:24and share it with someone
28:25who still believes in second chances.
28:27Wherever you're listening from,
28:29hold on to the people who come back for you.
28:30You're listening from the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the people who come back to the
Recommended
1:00
|
Up next
26:51
1:33:28
1:31:30
1:06:43
0:26
0:24
0:54
0:58
26:38
25:55
Be the first to comment