They Erased Me, So I Rewrote My Life Chapter 25

They Erased Me, So I Rewrote My Life Chapter 25

“We did it.”

He swept me up and spun me around on the grass by the farm.

Sunlight caught in his hair. As he lifted me high, for the first time, I clearly understood what joy felt like.

This wasn’t something the Walton family had handed down to me.

This was a future I had fought for myself.

Leo immediately called his uncle with the news.

On the other end, Uncle Manuel’s laugh boomed.

“I knew you two could do it! Good work, girl!”

That praise felt more real than any compliment I had ever received from Alexander Walton.

As a graduation gift, I made one request of Leo.

I wanted to go camping with him and his uncle in a national park.

A campfire, the stars, the cold night air.

Sitting in that endless black wilderness, I finally understood what freedom meant.

The wind was gentle.

The night sky was vast.

At last, I no longer felt like a shadow trapped in a cage.

Leo sat beside me, poking the fire with a branch.

“Eliza,” he said suddenly, “you know what?”

“What?”

“You’re becoming more and more like yourself.”

I turned to look at him.

“You used to be so tense, like you were ready for a fight at any moment,” he said. “Now it’s different. You laugh. There’s light in your eyes.”

I was silent for a while.

The layer of ice that had always coated my heart seemed to crack.

“Thank you, Leo.”

“For what?”

“For seeing me.”

He smiled and covered the back of my hand with his.

“I’ll always see you.”