Little Life Novels & Stories

After I unzipped the compressed file, I played the video. In a church that had seen better days, a young man, looking to be about 18, was playing an old piano. The sunlight streaming in illuminated his bleached shirt, causing him to almost glow. The clean, innocent vibe he gave off was like a breath of fresh air, a gentle spring breeze caressing one lightly. Despite only half her face being visible, it was clear from Sylvia's profile that she was smiling gently. Her gaze was also full of adoration as she lost herself in the soothing music.

As though I might wake up any second and discover it was all a wonderful dream, and now it was Monday morning and time to go back to suffering the petty torments of working for Herr Klaus. Tune in this week for Fantasy Island, starring Lily Ross! But there was one thing in my life that was more Real Life than anything else – and that was Money. Notice that I didn’t say ‘Important.’ I said ‘Real Life.’ Like the sort of things that beat you over the head and remind you you’re not living in a Hallmark Movie. Rent. Bills. Being able to eat something other than Top Ramen. You need Money for Real Life, and there was never enough of it.

"I'm sorry, Caitlyn. I had misunderstood you. I couldn't marry you in this life, but if there's a next life, I'll marry you as soon as I can." She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a new tattoo. It was a photo of us from when we were together. Through her tears, she said, "It's okay. I’ll never forget you. In the next life, I'll wait for you to marry me." Now free of attachments, I felt lighter. Slowly, I began to lose control over my form, and I realized my time in this world had come to an end. For the first time, I felt true peace. It was as if I was showing the living that death was not the end of life, but rather, the beginning of a new journey.

"Lucky for me, I was born with a silver spoon, unlike some people, born to parents who abandoned them." I couldn't help but think back to when Freddie had sat next to me on my bed in my past life, sipping from the bowl of nourishing soup that was supposed to help me recover. He had sneered, "Tyler, you're going to die anyway. Drinking all that soup won't change a thing. I'll just enjoy it for you; no need to thank me." I wanted to rip him apart right then and there—just the thought of him made my skin crawl.

Edward collapsed on the spot in rage, and after that, there was no stopping her. One year later, my short-video platform had cleared the 100-million-user mark, so I rode the wave and rolled out livestream shopping. Capital rushed in the second they saw the potential, everyone scrambling for a slice. The factories and agricultural lines I worked with started booming on live streams. Even tourism changed as short videos took off. People stopped packing into big cities and started chasing trips out in nature instead. Around then, the vacation real estate project Jerome and Rosalie were running together blew up in their faces.

Normalcy. Life with the Harsányis troupe was none of those things. He’d finally done his own running away at fifteen. Run away from the circus. How ironic was that? Gotten himself declared an emancipated minor, changed his name, and worked his way through school, planning for the day when he could have a normal life. He was so close. Partner in a venture capital firm that was on the cutting edge of green technology—life expe-riences providing as much of that education as college courses—judicious spending practices, friends, vaca-tions, retirement accounts…

The wind blew gently caressing our face with the warmth of the late afternoon breeze, a familiar fragrance enters my nostrils it’s been six years since then I haven't heard anything from her but her billion dollar company remains the same and became even more powerful Lu took over it that's what I know after I flew back home to make my dreams come true. "Don't worry, my gramps told me that when two people did not end up together in this timeline, another life will be granted for them," She gave me her toothy grin. "Maybe in some other lifetimes, you will meet her again," I hope so darling, I will be waiting for her, again. **********

I didn’t even know he lives here! He shows me one of his million-dollar smiles; big, grinning and brightly shining. "Surprise, surprise. I live here. We're neighbors now." "Wait... What? You live here? Oh god, you're Eamon, like in his younger brother Eamon." I gasp, finally connecting the dots. "The one and only sis!" He walks in, mindlessly throwing the door closed behind him and flopping down on the sofa next to me. Eamon takes in the small fortress I made with the big pillows and the blanket.

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-(--header-height)" dir="auto" data-turn-id="bf6efb67-0cf8-47f3-9f4f-da935924899e" data-testid="conversation-turn-1" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn="user"> Yang Lifei hears them.She pauses—but instead of reacting, she smiles faintly thinking internally, last life… I would have shrunk back. Not this time.

“Something adventurous, fun. A once in a lifetime opportunity.” “I’ve missed out on twenty-four years’ worth of life, Tino. Anything could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.” The deadpan has the Santora man breaking out in a fit of laughter and he nods, agreeing that it was true. “That’s a good point.” He says. “Kind of sad, but you’re right.” Liviana nods. “Yes, so what am I supposed to put? Just anything I can think of? Oh- Maybe I should look up some ideas.” She decides, already searching through her blankets for her phone.