Now echoes (E928)

I ran through days where masks became my uniform, a heart without a rhythm, trapped inside the norm. I chased the dreams that someone else had planned, smiled through the pain I could barely understand. They painted rules as if they were carved in stone, said freedom was a dream, that I should stay alone. But every night when silence filled the room, I heard a voice inside me breaking through the gloom. I lost my colors, turned gray beneath the sky, built walls around my heart, yet felt alone inside. I searched for a reflection I could recognize, but only saw the shadows passing through my eyes. Then in the silence, I heard my heartbeat call, a little spark of fire rising through it all. It said, no one can live this life for me, the road gets straight when I become who I’m meant to be. So I broke the patterns holding dreams in place, let every fear fall down and disappear without a trace. Now I wear my scars like medals in the light, because the darkest road can lead you home at night. I follow no more maps drawn by another hand, I write my own directions, build my own promised land. If the world tries to shape me into someone I can’t be, I’ll answer with the truth and let my heart run free. Now every step is beating with a rhythm that feels right, no chains around my soul, no borrowed way of life. The one I always searched for was beneath each scar, and every breath I take says: now I know who I am.