Long Story Short I Survived Novels & Stories

I survived because I found strength in the small things - my grandmother’s quiet hugs, my siblings’ laughter, the way the moonlight filtered through the trees and reminded me that Selene was still watching. I survived because even when I wanted to give up, there was a voice inside me that whispered: Not yet. Not like this. You are more than what he did to you. I am not what he did to me. I am not the silence he forced me to keep. I am not his crime. I am still here, scarred but not broken.

I was left standing alone in the darkness of the night like a clown that no one cared about. I made an appointment for an abortion on my phone. Then, I turned to leave. I'd spent the past 15 years trying and failing to win Benjamin's heart. If that was the case, I didn't want it anymore. It was late at night when I returned to the nearest town. I got a room at a hotel and drifted off into a restless sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, I was jolted awake by the ringing of my phone. My superior at the TV station sounded anxious yet excited. "I heard a 5.3-degree earthquake happened at the old settlement near your location. You need to head there immediately to get the latest scoop!"

Aeron Miller was never special. When the System descended upon Earth and monsters brought civilization to its knees, he was nothing more than an ordinary survivor trying desperately to stay alive. For ten brutal years, Aeron watched humanity fall. Cities became ruins, friends became enemies, and powerful survivors fought over the few resources left. In the end, Aeron became one of the last humans alive—only to be betrayed and killed by the people he trusted. Then he opened his eyes. Seven days before the apocalypse. Seven days before the System awakens. Seven days before the world he knows disappears. Aeron has returned with everything he learned from his first life.

“Mr Polinski?! How.. I.” “Don’t stress yourself, dear. God knows what you’ve been through.” “But how...did? How..” “How did I survive? Well, luck. The day Natalia killed her mother, I was on a trip with my comrades. I didn’t know I would come to see such horror. I always told her mother to give Natalia the proper care she needed, but she never listened, always changing the topic, always denying the fact that she wasn’t well. I’m not saying that I knew this day would come, but I’m saying that I was sure of it.”

I put my hands on his face. "Listen to me," I said. He looked at me. "We have survived worse than whispers. We have survived your father. My father. Phoebe. The fake pregnancy. The lawsuits. The funeral. We have survived all of it. Together." Tears formed in his eyes. He did not wipe them away. "I know," he said. "Then do not be scared of people who do not know us. They do not know what we have been through. They do not know how hard we fought to be here. Their opinions do not matter." He leaned forward. His forehead touched mine.

I looked at the table and not at him because looking at him while saying this was going to cost more than I had available right now. “I am tired of the worst parts of my life being content. Of people reading about my father’s hospital bills and deciding something about who I am.” My voice was even but thin. The kind of evenness that was one thing away from not being even anymore. “I did not choose any of those months. I did not choose to be desperate. I did not choose to be Adrian’s ex or the woman in the back of a registry hall or the person with the unpayable bills.” I pressed my hands flat against the table. “I just survived them. And someone took the surviving and turned it into a story

Despite his harrowing situation, he still called me to tell me to take care of myself and not to leave the house. A loud gunshot sounded at that moment. I wheeled around to look at the villa across from me. A bloodied woman burst into the courtyard before slamming the door to trap the man in the villa. Then, she aimed a pistol at her head before pulling the trigger, effectively taking herself out with a bullet on the spot. I had spent three years struggling to survive in the apocalypse. There, I had seen way too many infected people choosing to take their own lives by shooting themselves just to avoid turning into zombies.

That was his version of agreeing with them. Something inside me cracked. "Stop it." All three of them looked up. "Stop treating me like I'm made of glass. I'm pregnant, not dying. I have been kidnapped, beaten, chased, shot at, and nearly killed more times than I can count. I survived Travis. I survived Lana. I survived Vance's people. I survived everything that has been thrown at me since this started and I did it while standing right next to all of you." Nobody answered.

When he returned to the chalet, a pot of hot soup, a plate of mashed potatoes, and two white porcelain bowls were on the table. Finn happily waved, "Come here for breakfast." Uri sat down at the table, marveling at Finn's cooking. "You're so good. If it were me, this soup wouldn't be edible." "I had no place to live, always had to run away. I would have died long ago if I couldn't care for myself." Finn scooped up a bowl of soup and set it down in front of Uri. "You eat it, and I'll teach you how to survive in the forest."

“I told you, I won’t force you.” “But we must, I mean we can’t fake the-” “We’ll mark each other. It'll be enough to sustain our story. I know how you feel about it, but the mark will fade away eventually. We'll renew it once in a while.” By the end of this talk, he was only in his underwear. A small whimper escaped my mouth causing me to slap a hand over it. His laugh filled the room. Despite the turmoil of emotions that were ravaging my mind, I couldn’t deny the fact that his body was nothing less than perfect.