I Choose Peace Novels & Stories

It was the quietly simple moments that made you stop and think, This is what it means to be alive. And still, peace didn’t arrive in one fell swoop. It wasn’t a matter of a switch you could flip or a gift tied up in a bow. It was something you had to choose, over and over again, every day. It was in the little things — the conversations we had never made time for, the dreams we had pressed pause on, the love we were finally free to tend to without the world bearing down on us.

But from today, I don’t give a fuck about any of them. I would die in fourteen days time, but I would die knowing that I didn’t give any of these fuckers the satisfaction they were craving. Today, I embrace hatred over love. Today, I choose chaos over peace. Today, I choose hate. ** [ ~ Day Eight ~ ]

After saving money with Justin Pierre for five years, we finally went to view a house. My best friend, Maria Houston, came along too. "The master bedroom needs a walk-in closet. Can we knock down this wall?" she asked Justin while pointing at the floor plan I had been looking at for the past six months. "I'll get a designer to take a look tomorrow. You can change it however you want." The two of them discussed everything, from the direction the apartment faced to the tiles, from the floor-to-ceiling windows to the bathtub. Meanwhile, I stood in the corner, unable to get a word in. When it was time to sign the papers, he seemed to suddenly remember I was here and said, "We'll put this pla

“I manage my actions.” The room felt steady. Not tense. Not charged. Just honest. Toward the end, the journalist asked the question Lillian had expected. “What does peace look like for you.” Lillian considered it carefully. “Peace isn’t absence,” she said. “It’s presence without fear. It’s waking up without needing to outrun yesterday. It’s choosing work that doesn’t cost you yourself.” The journalist nodded slowly. When the interview concluded, there was no sense of conclusion. No applause. No closing remarks engineered for impact.

"Live. Really live. We sleep in tomorrow. We have breakfast without rushing. We exist without constantly solving crises. We just be. Together. Normal. Human. Happy." "That sounds amazing. Impossible. But amazing." "Not impossible anymore. Real. Actual. Available. We made it available. We created it. Through choice. Through courage to step back. Through trusting others. Through being human enough to admit we can't do everything. That's our victory. Not defeating enemies. Not surviving impossible. But this. Creating sustainable life. Creating happiness. Creating choice to be more than roles." They sat in comfortable silence. Feeling bond. Feeling peace. Real peace. Not stolen peace. Not tempor

She found a napkin in her bag, wrapped his hand, the intimacy of the gesture simple, necessary, real. "I love you," he said. The words emerging, unplanned, the declaration that didn't require certainty, just persistence. "I don't know if that's enough. I don't know if that's real or escape or if there's a difference. But I—" He stopped, found her eyes, direct. "But I keep choosing it. Even when it's hard. Even when I'm afraid. Even when I become him for a minute and have to come back."

"Do not waste it." I stood at the edge of the kingdom, watching the sun rise over the mountains. The horizon was calling. There were more wolves to remember. More worlds to heal. More connections to make. But I was not in a hurry. I had learned that peace was not a destination. It was a practice. A daily choice to be present, to be grateful, to be still. I smiled. "Let us continue."

I released just enough of my hold that Varek could speak. His mouth moved and words came out harsh and bitter. "You are a traitor" he spat "you chose the beasts over your own people and you let him touch you and you became his whore" The words were meant to hurt me but they did not. I had made my choice and I was at peace with it. "I chose love over hatred" I said calmly "I chose unity over division and I chose peace over endless war that would destroy everyone" "Peace is surrender" Varek said "peace is slavery with a different name and you are too stupid to see it"

Bruce just laughed it off. "You think we're all blind? You're treating trash like it's treasure." He pulled out his phone and played a video. There was Amelia, blowing through the cash meant for charity and the money from the guys, on wild parties and scandalous escapades. Amelia shrieked and hit the deck. I made my way to the front of the room, ready to drop the hammer. "St. Hartwell University hands out offers early, but classes are about to start. Have any of you gotten one?

My phone vibrates and I check the I*******m notification right away. _ETHAN.M.: I’ll be waiting. Who am I kidding? I’m doing exactly what I want to do. At least one. Last. Time.