Heaven Ninety-Seven

Benjamin

The rules don’t protect us. Where I’m from, law and virtue are just new names for obedience, and obedience is a leash. I learned that young. Be good, stay small, and you’ll still starve. Just when I thought I’d scraped together a shred of dignity, my past crashed back in, ripped it apart, and made me the district’s joke. But grind a man down long enough, back him into a corner, parade his pain for all to see...and soon enough, he won’t flinch. He’ll start swinging.

Luca

My cage was made of softer things: expectations and duty. I thought I’d escaped once, felt the taste of freedom on my tongue. But freedom sours fast, and when everything fell apart, the burden landed squarely on me: either silence the ghost hovering over us, or watch it consume everything. I searched for another way, and my past answered, offering me a man instead. I couldn’t have known that grasping his hand would unravel everything.