Familiar No Zero Novels & Stories

File it away. Exactly where Celeste wanted it. Her phone buzzed. A message from an unfamiliar number. Unknown: You still close to her? Celeste’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and considered the question. Close was subjective. Emotional closeness. Physical proximity. Access. Trust. Celeste had all four. She typed slowly. Celeste: Always. The reply came almost instantly. Unknown: Good. Just making sure we’re aligned.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Many kids scrambled to pick numbers between one to ten, because - who didn't like to come in the first ten, right? When it got to my turn, I scrunched up my face and picked zero. Master Haruki scoffed and said I needed to pick another number. He said Zero meant I was nothing, but as young as I was, I reasoned in my head that zero came before one and I told him as such. I knew he considered it when he put his hand against his chin in meditative thought.

Likeable 1 > 0 Just to close his eyes, ignoring another beep of the hologram on the screen in front of him. **Meeting the stranger failed

This time I would finish him. "Shaurya Agnihotri starts counting your days in reverse manner. I am coming." The room heard my growling and frustration with my utmost hateful statement.

Why is it so far away that I even failed to notice it? "Uh, okay." I sat properly and pointed to an eggplant thingy on my side. "How about this one on my right side? Do I need to use this, too?" He laughed. "That's a shifter or a drive stick." "Yeah, yeah. Eggplant or whatever that is." "Pfft, no. You don't have to use that." He chuckled and pointed at the pedals. "Do you know which pedal to step on?" "Nope. I don't have any idea."

Between me and Micheal breaking up and now Kita acting crazy, I just couldn't catch a break. I decided not to cook that night so I called and ordered pizza. We sat in the game room and watched movies as we ate. I was enjoying the day and excited to see the kids curl up beside their daddy. Aza was in his lap with her head laying on his chest. That girl loves her daddy. She was true daddy girls. Tonight was watching Frozen. Aza request. It was her turn to pick. The boys thought it was too childish, but we watched it with her.

Sienna froze for a moment, then sneered, "Fine, search away! There's no way Callum would take something like that!" Dad nodded to calm the situation. "Alright, then we'll search everyone. Martha, you search Vy. Caleb, you search Mr. Lockwood." The housekeeper, Martha Harper, reached into my pocket. Sienna stared at Martha's hand, a smile already creeping onto her face. The pop-up messages scrolled: [Just admit it quickly, or you'll lose your parents' trust forever.] However, when Martha's hand came out, it was completely empty. "There's... nothing here." Martha looked stunned.

Lizzie, on the other hand, was leaning on the arm of the sofa, grinning from ear to ear like a shark. “Sit,” Valour said, pointing to the hard chair in front of his massive desk. I sat down gently, looking down with a fake remorse. “A zero.” He said the word like it was a curse. “Out of one hundred. Not a forty. Not a twenty. A zero.” I didn’t say anything.

And the marriage registration still wasn't happening. I shook my head. "No. I don't love you anymore. After seven years, whatever love I had for you has been worn down to nothing."