Page 80 - DivineSparkRisingFinal

Divine Spark Rising
the same routines. That is how people make the
status quo bearable. It feels safe.”
Henry stared at the spiral. He thought of all the
loops people lived in. I can’t. Maybe tomorrow. Not
me. The lies repeated until they became walls.
Carolina’s voice dropped. “But courage does not
echo. Courage is the word that does not come back.
The step that bends the other way.”
She tilted the flashlight so the spiral’s reflection
shimmered across the water. In the pool, the curve
doubled itself, one turning with the echo, the other
against it.
Henry felt it land in his chest, simple and sharp.
“Every day,” he murmured, “you either keep
echoing, or you break it.”
They stood in silence, the cistern humming
around them. Then Carolina clicked off the light.
Darkness swallowed the spiral. They climbed back
into the Lisbon night.
The courtyard was alive with radios playing
fado, children chasing a ball, the smell of sardines
curling through the air. The city carried on, blind to
the secret below.
Henry glanced back once.
Comfort, he thought, is what makes the status
quo bearable. Same words, same routines, the same
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