Alan slipped the headphones over his ears, letting the ambient creaks of the old room fade into the background until it was just him and the voice from the podcast. They were talking about him, his life pulled apart and examined piece by piece, like a strange specimen laid bare under a harsh, unforgiving light. He winced as they wandered into his past—the mistakes, the desperation, the more successful story he’d tried to leave behind. With each word, they twisted his new story into something darker, something he barely recognized. Frustration simmered in his chest. If only he could reach through the static, rewrite every line with a gentler truth, turn their cold judgment into something softer, something he could actually live with. But all he could do was listen, each sentence weighing heavier than the last, a reminder of the shadows stretching behind him, hollow and aimless.
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