Until You Say Stop

he first understood that

e kind that made people twitch. The kind that turned rooms cold. Th

ed in booming threats, crashing plates, the familiar whip

t flinching gave his fat

e st

iet. Watchfu

hall, memorized the clicks in the locks at midnight, catalogued the tremble in his mot

ive that house

e who tried to love him, and smarter tha

ne bleed, it wasn't rage tha

laughter and ignorance. He cracked a joke in front of a girl Adrian

ss. Let the boy

rian cornered him without a single word. It lasted ninety seconds. Wh

he first r

sn't beg.

first time I walke

earer, sharper, like it knew I wasn't coming back the same. Inside that house, everything screamed even in silence. My father's voice d

e place I'd been building in my head for years. It didn't speak. It listened. The floor creaked gently, not wi

I saw the

rned, broken,

the weight of their own history. It wasn't about faith. It wa

r thirty-seven m

eople, never people-but space. Lines. Movement. I designed not what peopl

door opened slightly too slow. Every room

I was being invited into rooms I hadn't asked to be part of. By twenty-four, I was bui

of that

m I cared about

s for

t the way she looked, but the way she resisted. I knew her presence

bare skin flecked with paint, chin lifted li

dy had

ey was al

her before I ever s

st the way I liked it-and suddenly, there she was, standing in front of that same cathedral painting.

cause the space wasn't built to hold something like her. She had

the way she moved. The way her gaze skipped past what everyone else would stop to admir

give h

ight, every impatient glance toward the door before forcing herself to

atched, the

ttle longer. Angles shifted so subtly no one else noticed. But she did. I saw it in the way her s

ne she didn't kn

she came back,

without ever hearing my voice. Would she let the spa

very test wi

t enough

eft her

-written on thick black stock tucked be

at most peo

it. She just folded it in half and put it in her pocket like she'd been

e she looked directly

sm

aid to me weren't a greeti

she said, low voice like a whisper s

right away. Ju

hing soft about the way she stood. Chin up, arms crossed, one foot turne

e added before I could speak. "Shifti

see if you wo

as slow. Dangerous. It made so

if I

crowd her, but enough to let the silenc

actly who I tho

not through me. At me. And I knew

think I am

ve said wild thing. Firestarter. Unc

ngr

n't widen. T

ous thing to say

tranger," I sai

out true. She wasn't a stranger. She was the sha

y leading deeper into the gallery. The corridor I'd redesign

me," s

st turned and led her into the sh

ed back to see if

se I

e

orridor I'd built for her

wed whole. Most people turned back the moment the light thinned, their nerves flickering like dy

peak. Neit

able, even. Like neither of us needed to perform for t

There was no label on the door, no announcement or plaque. Just dark wood and

n surprise, but in recognition. Like some

from the ceiling-metal suspended in tangled arcs of blackened gold, like constellations fallen

She didn't know why

his for anyone e

ing the low amber light. "Th

ou

r of war crossed her face. Not fear. Just unce

she whi

closer. Slow

y to take control of it. I made this room to remind you-" I p

ils ble

e didn't

o

I wasn't

you stand your ground when most people flinch. You think

thing I never d

n my fingers-gentle, never demanding-

said. "And tell me w

she

lo

brea

heartbeats, I saw it-wh

surr

t

curi

was e

r