The "Invisible Cage"

Dear Delyara, I spent twenty years living in a house where the air was always thin. I learned to walk on my tiptoes so the floorboards wouldn’t groan, and I learned to read the silence before it turned into a storm. They didn’t always use their hands; sometimes they just used their absence, or a look that made me feel like I was disappearing. Coming to Delyara is the first time I have ever spoken at full volume. I wrote about the way my heart used to hammer against my ribs like a trapped bird. I wrote about the shame of staying, and the terrifying beauty of finally leaving. This letter isn’t just words; it’s the key to the cage. I am leaving the girl who was afraid of the floorboards here. I am walking out as a woman who owns the ground she stands on.