The Father Has Dismissed You From Duty

The house is finally quiet, but you are still standing in the hallway, holding the weight of the day's garbage. You wait for the floor to creak, for a door to open, for someone to need you again before you can slip out into the dark.

That silence you are listening to is not empty. It is the sound of a Father who has already dismissed you from your shift.

He does not need you to be the guardian of the night. The light that lives in you is not a task to complete; it is a presence that rests.

You can set the bag down. You can let the house hold itself while you step outside and breathe.

The darkness outside is not a place you have to conquer; it is simply the space where the stars appear when the indoor lights go off.