🪶: The Crossed-Out Name

🟦 Chapter 1 – The Notebook

Théo, 28, worked as a caregiver in a small retirement home on the edge of town.
He often helped sort through the belongings of residents who had passed away.

One morning, while organizing the room of Mr. Elman—a quiet, gentle man who had died the night before—he found a soft, worn notebook.

Inside, every page listed a name, a city, and a profession.

But each name was crossed out with a single, neat line.

And on the final page, one word was written in bold letters:

"FREEDOM."

🟦 Chapter 2 – The Man with Many Lives

Intrigued, Théo asked an older colleague. She shrugged.

— Mr. Elman? He was polite, smiled a lot. But no one really knew his past.

Later, an elderly resident named Antoine whispered to him:

— You found his notebook, didn’t you?

Théo hesitated, then nodded.

— He told me once… he changed his name every ten years.
Said he refused to be trapped in one version of himself.

🟦 Chapter 3 – Lives Crossed Out

A few days later, Théo checked Mr. Elman’s administrative file.
Almost nothing. A fake name. No listed family.

But tucked behind a drawer, he found an unsent letter.
It read:

“I was Max, a photographer in Lyon. Then Hugo, a bookseller in Annecy. Then Malik, a factory worker in Roubaix.
I’ve been a father. And a son. And sometimes neither.
I’ve fallen in love. Twice. Been broken. Three times.
Every time the world tried to box me in, I changed.
My past doesn’t define me. It guides me, but it never owns me.”

🟦 Chapter 4 – What Théo Did With It

Théo couldn’t stop thinking about it.
He began writing. Interviewing the older residents.

He uncovered fragments: a blurry article, a missing person report marked “closed,” a painting signed with one of the former names.

But what struck him wasn’t the man’s disappearance.

It was his deliberate choice to reinvent himself.

Théo launched a small documentary project on life reinventions.
He collected stories from people who had dared to start over.

One day, he spoke about Mr. Elman at a conference.

— He wasn’t running away. He was setting himself free.
He refused to let a single name, a single role, define who he was.

🟦 Chapter 5 – The Final Word

At the end of the conference, Théo projected one last image:
The notebook, open to the page with the word “FREEDOM.”

And he said:

— Maybe the greatest courage isn’t to succeed in life…
But to begin again.
To cross yourself out—just enough to finally see who you really are.

💡 Moral

You are not your past.
You are who you choose to become—today, tomorrow, and as many times as you need.
Changing isn’t running away.
Sometimes, it’s the most loyal thing you can do…
To the person you’re becoming.