Member-only story
The Roads We Take:
A Son’s Journey to Freedom Inspired by Roads by Chris Mann
The road stretched endlessly before him, an open invitation to a future he had never dared to imagine. The rain drummed lightly against the windshield, and the distant glow of streetlights flickered like tiny beacons guiding him away from the place he once called home. His hands trembled as they gripped the steering wheel, his mind tangled in the echoes of a voice that had controlled him for as long as he could remember.
“You’ll never make it without me.”
“You’re too weak.”
“Go ahead and run, but don’t come crawling back when you fail.”
Her words still lived inside him, even now, miles away from the house where they had been drilled into his mind. He had spent years believing them, letting them shape his world, holding him captive in a prison without walls. But tonight was different. Tonight, he had left.
As the soft melody of Roads by Chris Mann played through the car speakers, something inside him cracked open.
“It’s hard to say goodbye when all I’ve ever known is you.”
A lump formed in his throat. The song wasn’t just music — it was his story, his struggle, his escape.
