Book Choose Joy Novels & Stories

She didn’t want to tell Joey that this one simple sentence had changed her world more than she was willing to accept and that she was terrified that her heart was losing its claws, its weapons, and its hunger for blood in the battle against Zander. Joey’s eyes crinkled, and she was so focused on the confusion and awe in them that it didn’t even register that he was laughing. Not just laughing—hooting. Holding his stomach and everything. “No, come on, no. Your friend didn’t mean your heart is a lonely hunter. She meant the book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Maybe it was her favourite. The author was twenty-three when she wrote it. Your age.” He looked at me pointedly, like

On the high-speed train home, the scenery outside passed by in fragments, but I could not focus on any of it. Shanine slept soundly on my shoulder. She had drunk too much the night before and had been rushed onto the train early this morning, leaving her half-dazed. Her hair brushed my neck, carrying the familiar scent of her shampoo. Yet, my heart felt strangely quiet. Almost empty. That happiness had arrived too fiercely, and it had disappeared just as quickly. Phoebe sat across from us, wearing headphones and scrolling through her phone. Occasionally, she looked up, our eyes meeting briefly before she quickly looked away again, as if nothing had ever happened.