“I’m the one who paid the bills,” he said.

And with those words, he turned and walked into the dark, leaving the door wide open behind him.

I looked down at the paper in my hand, the ink blurring in the damp air.

The game was not over. It was only beginning.

And the man we thought was our savior was the one who had written the rules.

I grabbed Lauren’s hand and stepped out into the quiet hallway, the thin beam of the flashlight our only guide.

The stairs were waiting, and the storm outside was waiting too.

And the empty castle was finally ready to fall.

We walked into the dark, our steps echoing on the cold stone, and did not look back.

The door of the stairwell clicked shut behind us, sealing us in the silent, winter night.

And the city of Chicago slept on, buried in white.

We reached the ground floor, the exit doors locked and dark.

The wind rattled the glass, a constant reminder of the world outside.

I looked at the phone in my hand, the screen still glowing with the message.