If you grow up in the city, adventure is something you watch on a screen.

You sit in front of a TV, watching kids your age climb trees, build forts, sneak through the woods with flashlights.

You see them find things you could only dream of exploring, hidden and forgotten places, one's adults don't go to.

But when you step outside, there's no wilderness waiting for you, no abandoned cabins with secrets inside.

Just endless concrete sidewalks, chain-linked fences, apartment rooftops, dead-end alleys,

a world where every inch of space is mapped, numbered, owned by someone else.

The closest thing to adventure was jumping between buildings,

sneaking into construction sites, tagging a name on walls that won't be there in a year.

It wasn't enough.

At least, not for Liam.

I've known Liam since we were kids.

He was always the loudest voice in the room, the one with the biggest ideas.

He could make you believe in something just because he did.

If Liam said, we're going to sneak into the old rail yard and see if we can get on top of a train before it moves.

Then yeah, you were going to do it.

If he said, this abandoned apartment tower is safe to climb, no one ever checks inside.

You trusted him.

And most of the time, he was right.

Ethan, on the other hand, was the opposite.

He was quiet, thoughtful, always last to agree, but he never

backed out. He was stood just behind Liam and I, arms crossed, scowling, always looking like

he was seconds away from saying, this is stupid, but he never actually did.

...