After I Became Novels & Stories

"I got a job at your company, in an office just one floor away from you. Every day I watched him pick you up and drop you off. I thought to myself, if he ever treated you badly, I'd win you back." I pressed my lips together. It would be a lie to say I was not moved. Looking at his injuries, I decided to give him a chance, and to give myself a chance at a fresh start. From today onwards, I would embrace my new life.

Something had changed, even if it was only a small step. I had finally given my power a real name. Before, I had just been calling it Ingest, and the word had always felt rough to me, like something said without much thought. It didn’t really capture what the ability was… or what it meant to me. It was only a label, nothing more. Now, at least, it felt different. Giving it a name made it feel more real, more like a part of me instead of something strange that I was still trying to understand.

Possibilities I’m both craving and fearing. But unlike before, I don’t feel powerless. I know who I am now. Not perfect. Not invincible. But grounded. One evening, I sat on the grass in the quad and opened my journal. I flipped through the pages—some from freshman year, filled with fear and hesitation. Others from last semester, filled with dreams and plans and lists of things I wanted to become. Somewhere near the back, I wrote something new: I am not what happened to me. I am what I decided to become. And for the first time, I believed it.

Turns out, I was a walking checklist. It's wild how much I changed after that — like, almost overnight. One day I felt totally out of place, and the next, I was just in it, like I’d been part of the scene the whole time. I didn’t even have to try that hard, either. Everything just clicked. I started talking differently, acting differently, even thinking differently without realizing it. It’s crazy.

25 Imani got back to the office at 12:04 PM than usual, she headed straight to the company’s restroom, splashed water on her face, and told herself to get it together. “Oh Imani, I can’t believe you did all that this morning and last night” She scolded herself as she stares at herself in the mirror. She suddenly agrees with herself mentally “Well..I’m the CEO, I should lay down good examples..isn’t it?” She mumbled.

“And then you told me everything in that cafe and I had all these feelings about it, about him, about what you’d been through, about what you were clearly feeling for him.” “I remember,” Daniel said. “But standing here looking at you right now,” Nina said, “I am less worried than I have been since before any of this started.” Daniel looked at her. “You look like yourself,” she said. “Not the self from before Tim, that’s gone and I don’t think it’s coming back and honestly I don’t think it should. But yourself. Like someone who knows what they’re doing even when they don’t know exactly what they’re doing next.”

It was mainly an after-school job, three hours a day, and that’s where the idea of who I was to become had been born. I understood things better and I felt things. I soon learned to trust those instincts, and they were never wrong. I perfected how I did things, and now I strike fear into the hearts of those who dare mention my name; and I’ll smile as I look down at you, taking your last breath.

One year, and five months later. Ethan took a sip of his tea, enjoying the jasmine flavor of it as he made his way out of the last set. He had just wrapped up a movie he was shooting ten minutes ago, and was feeling great about it. His phone suddenly chimed. He looked down to find that it was his agent, telling him he just landed the role he had auditioned for months ago. A role every big shot actor was vying for. He grinned. Just what he needed. His career has been stuck for a while after that one scandal between Jane, and him. It just started picking up after his last appearance on a series, and he wanted to keep it that way.

​Slipping into the driver's seat of my car, I gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath. ​Six years in the human territories had changed everything. When Uncle Osric smuggled me across the border, I had been a broken, bleeding rogue with nothing but a shattered soul and the faint flicker of a second heartbeat. Now, I was a different woman entirely. I had built a life from the ashes, putting my education to use to secure an entry-level position at a struggling startup.

He held onto the table and gasped heavily for air. “Y-You really are...” I walked up to him and leaned down slightly. Then, I whispered in his ear, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to tell everyone the most satisfying time you turned someone’s power back on them? Didn’t you say someone at my level would never land a real job? “Well, I’m your boss now. Surprise, surprise.” Cole’s lips trembled. He was rendered speechless. The classmates around were all dumbfounded. Their mocking gazes turned into awe. A few people had even started wearing ingratiating smiles.