Chapter 4 — Fire Escape Confessions

Third Person

Evelyn sat cross-legged on the fire escape, her journal balanced on her knees. The Manhattan skyline sprawled ahead of her like an unreachable promise, its lights blinking in and out of the darkness like scattered fragments of hope. The air carried autumn’s crisp bite, mingled with the faint scent of roasted chestnuts from the vendor below. Her oversized sweater, frayed at the cuffs, bunched around her wrists as she absently tapped her pen against the journal’s weathered cover. The page before her remained blank, a white void that seemed to mirror the creative emptiness she couldn’t escape.