When the Lights Go Out in Manhattan Chapter 14

The plane took off smoothly.

I looked out the window. Endless clouds rolled beneath us.

In my eyes, apart from this pure whiteness, there was nothing else.

Six months later, while hiking in Torres del Paine National Park, I received a message on LinkedIn.

It was from Julian's former assistant.

She told me Julian had served three months in prison and was now out on parole, working a junior position at a small company in Queens.

His parents had cut him off. He was living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn.

She also said Julian asked her to ask how I was doing.

I looked at the message, then at Leo, who was brewing coffee on a portable stove next to me.

I replied with two words:

“I’m good.”

Then I put my phone back in my backpack and didn't look back.

Because in front of this magnificent wilderness,

The cage that trapped me for six years,

The man I once humbly begged for love,

The marriage that consumed all my passion,

They all seemed so small.

And my life was just beginning.