Life Worth Living Novels & Stories

Every month on the 15th is the day I swap lives with Melody Foster. 18 years ago, a hospital mix-up places our IVF embryos in each other's mothers. After the truth comes out, my biological parents want their real daughter, and my adoptive parents want theirs. They arrange for Melody and me to rotate between the two homes on a monthly basis, switching every 15th. From then on, I become the burden neither family wants. In whichever home Melody stays, there are endless snacks and drinks, thousands of dollars in monthly allowance, and the sunny bedroom is always reserved for her. In whichever home I stay, there's nothing but plain meals and a windowless storage room. 18 years later, I

"I died on an operating table three weeks ago." The room goes silent. "Not literally. My heart kept beating. My lungs kept breathing. But the woman who walked into surgery—the one who spent twenty-six years believing her worth was measured by what her body could produce—she didn't survive." I grip the microphone, knuckles white. "A different woman woke up. One who understands that survival isn't the same as living. That choosing to fight isn't the same as winning. And that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit you're terrified while doing it anyway."

"Dicky, you're the only one I have left on this earth from now on. You'll always stay by Mommy's side, won't you?" "Of course I will," Richard promised. No matter how tough the going got, she could find the willpower to live on as long as she had Richard. She would live on well. 'So, John, is this the life without regrets that you wanted?!'

"Though as entertaining this is, the affairs of the still living are none of my concern. You'll have to speak to my opposite; Life." "So how do I find Life?" I asked, and Death shrugged, twirling his scythe as if it were a baton. "No clue. I deal with matters of death." "...you're of no help, you know that?" "I've upheld my deal, so I think I've helped way more than necessary. I'm just glad I didn't go fishing for your soul. Otherwise, I would've declined." My jaw drops at his comment, and he shrugs, fading away.

Built a life worth living. That's all that matters. The past is settled. The present is good. The future is bright. Finally, after everything, Elara can simply live. And she will. For Rachel. For Elena. For every woman who died too soon. She will live fully and well. Always.

My silence only angered Vivian as she sneered at me, "Jason put on a suicide act, so now you're copying him too? You're a grown man. Why are you still acting the same as before?" I still said nothing. Or maybe it was better to say I simply did not know what to say. I didn't know whether Jason had truly wanted to die, but when I couldn't reach my asthma medication, I had truly wanted to die. I suddenly felt there was nothing worth living for anymore. I had failed at everything; whether as a husband, a father, or a son. But now, I finally saw things clearly after Death's ice-cold hands brushed through my skin. I had spent my life thinking about everyone else, yet I had kept neglecting myself.

It's not that I'm not used to hate, but because everyone believes anything they see on the internet, even if it's not the truth of the whole story. I sat down on the cold floor lifelessly. Staring at my screen. Is this the start of my downfall? Twelve years of my hard work… and this is what I get in return?

"They had families who loved them! Children who needed them! What do I have? What's my life worth compared to Thomas's three kids or Jennifer's infant twins?" "Your life is worth everything to me. To your father. To your friends. To the thousands of wolves you've taught who are alive because of you." I pulled her into my arms despite her resistance. "Baby, you're measuring your worth against an impossible standard. No one's life is worth more or less than another's. They're all lives. All valuable. Including yours." "I can't believe that. I can't look at Thomas's children and believe my life matters as much as their father's."

Then he slid the pink pearl back. “The precedent’s already been set. Noble sacrifice earns Immortality. Reel will testify to that.” Angel looked at her brother, who held his wife’s hand to his lips. Reel had earned Immortality for sav¬ing Erica’s life, then declined it to spend the rest of his with her.

His lamentations were enough for her to hear. After all the bitter winters and healing autumns that life has brought to them, their sufferings have not ever sprouted. So the day has come for her. The most doleful day that she is only alive, being hugged and kissed, in the most cherished memories of the people who remembers her. But in reality, she is no longer… Shanta has already been erased from the world and from the minds of these people who once became a part of her life. Because three years ago, she was declared dead. And now, she wanders like a restless soul.