Just Survive Somehow Novels & Stories

“Something like that. He… he’s intense.” Alex laughed softly. “Intense doesn’t even begin to cover it. Everyone reacts differently. Some break immediately. Some bend but keep their wits. And then… there’s the rare few who survive.” She gave me a pointed look. “Survive is good, by the way.” I blinked at her, a little stunned. “Survive?” “Yeah. Survive means you didn’t give him what he wanted. You stood your ground. You weren’t… toyed with.”

Is this what survival looks like? I don't know. Still don't know. Probably never will. But she's alive. That's what I keep telling myself. That's the truth I cling to. She's alive. And I chose Damon. And now we live with both. Even if living feels like dying. Even if surviving feels like losing. Even if everything feels wrong. She's alive. And that has to be enough. Even when it doesn't feel like enough. Even when it feels like nothing will ever be enough again.

Us. And the fragile hope that maybe… just maybe… he was right. That this was just another storm. And we would survive it... Somehow

For the community we've built. I'll survive the next seven days. Somehow.

#Dorothy’s POV# I don’t know how I’ve stayed alive these past two days. No, really. It’s like my body decided for me. Decided to keep going. Even when my brain checked out and my heart fell into whatever void it’s been trying to crawl out of for months. I guess that’s what survival mode looks like. Not heroic. Not inspiring. Just… me, curled up in a dingy downtown motel under an alias, eating cold takeout in oversized hoodies and vomiting up both grief and breakfast in the same twenty-minute window.

Something colder. Something stronger. Something that didn’t need anyone— To survive.

“I’ll stand with Serena for the ceremony, calm the De Lucas, and settle the child’s registration. Once this passes, I’ll marry you properly. You know I love you.” Serena gave a small, wounded smile. “Aria, Dante spent ten years saving you. Is helping him once really so much to ask?” The room fell quiet. That was her skill. She never needed to raise her voice; she only had to place the blade where it hurt. I waited for Dante to stop her. He did not. Instead, he said, “I know this is unfair, but I need you to endure it for a little while.” Endure. For ten years, I had endured treatment after treatment, the smell of disinfectant, and pain that made sleep impossible. I had endured because Dante

Let myself be broken in someone's presence. And felt the smallest possibility that maybe—just maybe—I could survive this. Not heal. Not yet. Maybe never. But survive. One moment at a time. One breath at a time. One tiny step between breaking and healing at a time. And maybe that was enough. For now. For today. For this moment. Enough.

They were so full of holes that they did nothing to keep my feet warm. I had barely slept the entire time I had been here. Every time I felt like I was able to finally relax enough to sleep something woke me up. I just didn't know what. I could feel myself getting weaker every day and it drove me mad. I felt like I was about to loose what little sanity I clung to at any moment. Loosing my marbles wouldn't help me or the rest of my pack though and that thought is what kept me going. My pack needed me to be strong, they needed me to get through this and come out alive. Amelia needed me.

HELENA By the gods, what had that man led me into? His words echoed in my head. “If you survive the next stretch” he had said. “You will reach places where you stop needing help from strangers.” Did that mean I had to survive whatever was in that damned village? Just what in the gods name was in that village, what did I have to survive by accepting help from this stranger?