Letting Go After 99 Letdowns Novels & Stories

How do you stop wanting something that once made you feel like you could be more than what the world carved you out to be? My jaw tightened as I shook the thought off like rainwater from a coat. Letting go sounded easy in theory. But in practice—it was like asking a man to carve out his own ribs and walk away smiling. “Yeah,” I scoffed under my breath. “Nice speech, Dominus. Let go... sure.” I pushed up from the couch, slow but steady, hand brushing over the dull ache in my side. The place still stitched up from that hellhole. The same place he stitched with trembling hands and warm breath fanning my skin.

"So you are really giving up on him?" “I am not giving up," I corrected gently. "I am letting go. There is a difference. Giving up means I still want it but I'm too tired to fight. Letting go means I finally understand it was never meant to be mine in the first place." "That sounds sad," Nyra whispered.

"—sometimes the greatest act of love is letting go." We felt ourselves dissolving. Five perspectives separating. The bond that had held us together finally releasing. Kael's fierce determination fading into peace. Rhett's sharp calculations settling into acceptance. Darius's analytical mind letting go of control. Marcus's hard-won wisdom becoming gentle knowing. My own cosmic awareness finally, finally resting. "Together?" we asked each other one last time. "Always," five voices replied. And we let go. Let the bond release. Let our unified consciousness fragment back into five distinct souls. Let those souls drift apart into rest they had earned.

Text underneath: “She’s okay. We’re okay. Thank you for helping her when I couldn’t. Take care of yourself. - Caleb” He knew, and he was thanking me. I typed back: “Take care of her, both of them. She deserves someone who fights for her. Be that person.” Then I deleted the whole conversation and her number. I deleted everything. Starting over meant letting go completely. The plane took off at 6:47 AM. New York disappeared below the clouds. I closed my eyes and let myself think about her one last time. Then I let her go. She was never really mine to keep. Some love stories are about holding on tight, mine had always been about learning how to let go.

Instead, all Lauren received was my farewell letter. It was brief but cold. "Dear Lauren, you tricked me once, so I'm returning the favor. Goodbye forever. Don't look for me or think of me. "Sincerely, Cameron." When she read it, her anger and heartbreak overwhelmed her. She coughed up blood and collapsed on the spot. At that moment, she finally understood what it meant to be given hope, only to be left in despair. … As for me, I erased every trace of myself from San Havilon and removed all contacts. Once on the plane, a sense of finality washed over me. "Goodbye, Lauren."

The way he said not this time, like there was a this time before, like he was admitting something he had not meant to admit out loud. The fourth time on day nine. After that I deleted it. Not because it stopped mattering. Because it was starting to matter too much and I recognized that feeling the way you recognize a road you have driven before. I knew exactly where it led and I was not going back there on the strength of a sixty-second voicemail. I went to work. I ate lunch with Petra and Ro and argued about fonts and came home and made dinner and called my mother twice and did not mention Dominic either time. I watered my plants. I slept. I woke up and did it again.

She raged, while Celeste shrank back in fear, burrowing deeper into the curve of Ethan’s body. Aurora stepped closer to her even more menacingly as she went on,“The Aurex-9 serums comes to us every month! If we miss today’s dosage, then we have to wait till another month! This is the second dosage this month, and if that vial had broken just now, it will mess up his system and cause him to have a relapse! How did that not register in your fucking brain?!” She finished, and stood breathing hard, her eyes wide and red with rage.

The words landed harder than they should have. For a moment, I simply stared at the coffee in front of me. Let them go. As though it were that simple. As though I hadn't spent the last nine years trying. "I have," I said quietly. Arthur's eyebrow rose. "No, you haven't." I scoffed. "Haven't I?" "No." He set his cup down. "Moving on isn't the same thing as letting go." The room fell silent. I hated that part of me already knew he was right.

With a baby on her hip and coffee that tasted like survival. She’d made tea at 3:17AM. She’d learned he had nightmares. She’d left his office door cracked open and waited to see if he’d close it. She was the one who made this place breathe. And he let her go because he was too scared to say “stay.” Day 69. “Loving someone means letting go.” He’d repeated that to himself all night yesterday like a prayer. Like it would hurt less if he said it first. It didn’t.

Furious, Selena tried secretly drugging both herself and Hayden to force a situation, but Hayden caught her and dumped her out into the street. The next day, Selena woke up in an alley, barely clothed. Her mind shattered from the shock, and Hayden had her committed to a psychiatric hospital. As for Hayden, the man who used to spend several days each month in a mountain temple for spiritual retreat, he never went back. They say he even put away the prayer beads he always carried. But none of that mattered to me anymore. Three months after our engagement, Caleb proposed. I smiled as I accepted the flowers, but I didn't take the ring.