Episode 1: The Cracked Door

I live in a place where the walls yell more than the people do.
Where the hallway smells like cheap smoke and cheaper stories.
Where the red light flickers, but nobody’s trying to fix it.

Some nights, I count the fights like math homework.
Three screams. One crash.
Then the cops pull up, and it’s all blue light through the blinds.

The food’s good at the beginning of the month.
Not fancy good—just enough to make my belly stop talking.
But it doesn’t last. By the fifteenth, it’s back to ketchup packets and cereal with water.

I miss school sometimes.
It’s not because I don’t care.
It’s just far. And my legs get tired of pretending nothing hurts.

The front desk woman calls me “hon,” and I think she means it.
She gives me extra towels so I can wrap my pillow in silence.

I watch things I’m not supposed to.
Girls in tight skirts talking loud, guys counting something in their palms.
I don’t tell anyone. I just learn without asking.

The hotel’s cheap. But it costs a lot to grow up here.
Still, I do.
Every knock at the door, every slammed fist, every echo teaches me something.

This is my home.
Not perfect. Not safe.
But mine.

Don’t miss out one the next episode. Episode 2

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