The next time, the City was different.
There were no more marketplaces.
There were no more demons.
There were no more people.
Only a long corridor.
Stone walls.
Identical doors.
A single word was carved above each one.
SHAME.
ENVY.
LONELINESS.
SADNESS.
ANGER.
Lina stopped.
Until now she had thought the demons were the most dangerous thing.
Now she understood.
They had only been merchants.
The real rooms began here.
She opened the door marked:
ANGER
She expected darkness.
Screams.
Chains.
A monster.
But the room was almost empty.
Wooden floors.
One window.
A broken chair.
A boy sat in the corner.
Maybe ten years old.
Hugging his knees.
He was quietly staring at the floor.
Lina approached carefully.
– Hi.
The boy didn’t look up.
– What’s your name?
Silence.
Only after a long pause did he say quietly:
– It doesn’t matter.
– Why not?
– No one asks.
Lina sat down beside him.
For a while they were both silent.
Then she asked:
– Why are you here?
The boy shrugged.
– They left me here.
– Who?
– Everyone.
His voice was calm.
Without reproach.
As if talking about the rain.
– For what?
He finally looked up.
– Because I was angry.
– And?
– They said…
Good children don’t get angry.
– They also said…
Polite people don’t get angry.
– They also said…
Smart people control themselves.
– They also said…
Anger ruins everything.
He fell silent for a moment.
– So I stopped being angry.
Lina felt something in his voice that made it hard to believe him.
– And what happened after that?
The boy looked at his hands.
– Then they started taking.
– What?
– Everything.
– My time.
My things.
My silence.
My decisions.
He spoke more and more quietly.
– And I kept saying…
“It’s fine.”
Lina remembered her patients.
People who never argued.
Always understood.
Forgave everyone.
And constantly repeated:
“The most important thing is peace.”
But their eyes were always tired.
– Are you still angry?
She asked.
The boy shook his head.
– I don’t know how anymore.
– Would you want to?
He was silent for a long time.
Then asked very quietly:
– Am I allowed to?
Lina didn’t know how to answer.
At that moment the wall of the room began to change.
It became transparent.
On the other side, people could be seen.
They approached the boy one after another.
One took his toy.
Another sat in his spot.
A third pushed him.
A fourth told him to be quiet.
The boy only nodded at each of them.
Not once did he say:
“No.”
– Why don’t you do anything?
Lina asked.
– I don’t want to hurt anyone.
– And them?
The boy lowered his eyes.
– They probably didn’t mean to either.
Suddenly a woman’s voice sounded in the room.
Its source was invisible.
– Good boy.
– So polite.
– So convenient.
– He’s easy to be around.
Every sentence sounded like praise.
But with every one, the boy grew smaller.
Lina suddenly understood.
He wasn’t weak.
He had been taught to give up his boundaries.
– Do you know…
She asked quietly.
– What anger is for?
The boy shook his head.
– It’s not for destroying someone else.
She picked up a plank from the broken chair on the floor.
Set it between the boy and the transparent wall.
– It’s for…
Protecting yourself.
The people on the other side approached again.
This time they hit the plank.
Stopped.
They could no longer get through.
For the first time, the boy smiled.
– They stopped…
– Yes.
– Why?
– Because a wall finally appeared.
– But a wall pushes people away.
Lina looked at him.
– No.
A wall separates.
Only those get pushed away…
Who were used to walking straight through you.
At that moment something strange happened in the room.
The boy began to grow.
Slowly.
Almost imperceptibly.
His shoulders straightened.
His gaze became direct.
Nothing else changed.
He just no longer looked small.
– Can I be angry now?
He asked.
– You can.
– What if someone doesn’t like it?
Lina smiled.
– People who live off your lack of boundaries…
They definitely won’t like it.
She left the room.
The door closed quietly behind her.
The corridor remained the same.
Only the word ANGER on the door had vanished.
Another had appeared in its place.
BOUNDARY.
She woke before sunrise.
This time she didn’t reach for the notebook right away.
She sat in silence for a long time.
She remembered how many times in her life she had met people proud of never getting angry.
And how many of them were unhappy.
She picked up the pen.
Wrote:
Anger isn’t a person’s enemy.
After a long pause, one more line appeared.
The real danger begins when a person is so afraid of their own anger that they can no longer say “no.”
She stared at the empty bottom of the page for a long while.
Finally she wrote the last sentence.
People don’t take advantage of those who get angry. They take advantage of those who were forbidden to.