Chapter 1 (broken shadows)

Greetings, I'm Emily, and I trust you're all faring splendidly. Nestled within a quaint town, my existence seemed ordinary, yet I yearned for more. Casting aside the familiar, I aspired to forge an unshakable presence in this unforgiving world. Amidst the facade of normality, a curious truth emerged—I was an anomaly. Androphobia, that held me captive, dictating the contours of my diminutive life. It was just me, myself, and I, navigating a labyrinth of everyday struggles, all while the echoes of a haunting past loomed large. A single, haunting incident from my childhood had etched an indelible fear onto my soul, an unrelenting androphobia. My existence was a symphony of solitude, orchestrated within the towering walls I meticulously constructed to shield my fragile heart.

But my life is not that bad I have two hands, two legs. In life one thing being bad doesn’t make everything bad. Every morning, I would wake up to the soft rays of the sun filtering through my curtains, casting a golden glow on my face. The warmth of the sunlight offered a fleeting respite from the darkness that lingered within me but as the day wore on, I would find myself retreating deeper into my shell. I heard some rumors about me that the townsfolk said. Well, it’s a funny one that when I head down, my auburn hair cascading around my face like a protective curtain and protecting my mysterious sad eyes.

I don’t know who are my parents…or where I came from, I only know that I raised by my uncle and aunt… they despite their best intentions, struggled to understand my fear and extent to which it gripped me. They often pleaded with me to seek help, to open up about my fear and seek solace in the embrace of therapy. But I was adamantly resistant, unable to fathom a world where my terror could be alleviated.

As time passed, my androphobia began to manifest in the simplest of interactions. The mere presence of a man, even in the most benign circumstances, trigged a rapid heartbeat and a suffocating sense of panic. I found solace in my books, where the characters on the pages become my companions, guiding me through the imaginary worlds they inhabited.

In my room, I had created a sanctuary, a cocoon of safety where I could retreat from the outside world. Shelves lined with books towered around me, their worn spines a testament to the countless journeys I had embarked upon. Within those pages, I found solace and escape, a refuge from the darkness that loomed outside.

But, deep down, beneath the layers of fear, a flicker of longing stirred within me. I yearned to break free from the shackles that bound me, to venture beyond the confines of me self-imposed prison. The whispers of my heart, although faint, echoed through the corridors of my mind, urging me to take a step towards healing. I heard another rumor about................

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