Our Missing Hearts: A Novel Novels & Stories

"She doesn't have any scars. Look at her face. She doesn't know what it feels like to hold a child who’s crying because the machine stopped talking. She doesn't know what it tastes like to eat bread that grew from a memory of hunger." I walked onto the white marble walkway. The moment my bare feet touched the sterile stone, a wave of pure, numbing cold shot up my legs. The phantom Seraphina smiled, reaching into her jacket to pull out a document—a beautiful, heavy parchment stamped with the gold seal of the Thirteen. "It’s the Bylaws of the Heart, Version 2," she said, offering me a gold-nibbed pen. "The one where we don't have to forget each other to save the world."

Mahira escaped easy, her legs felt like they would give up on life any moment now, she just wanted to find a quiet corner and relax from all this chaos , the air in this room felt like it was filled with dirty thoughts of dirty minds, and she so hated this. No sooner had she taken a few steps when another hand popped out in front of her, blocking her way. Show me how much can you stand, seeing your love being shredded, someday you will fall... All Hearts !!

“His heart is steady.” “That’s not what I asked,” I snapped. Elijah swallowed. “Some children… some powerful ones… they’re quiet.” “Quiet is not silent,” I said. The healers exchanged looks they thought I did not see. I felt it then. A hollow place inside my chest. Not pain. Not fear. Absence. I pressed my palm over my heart. “Something is gone.” Kieran’s voice dropped. “Nova.” “I gave something,” I said. “When the fire left me. I didn’t just burn it out. I lost something.”

We were also running out of mountain. The black heart learned from failure with obscene speed. It abandoned the broad shape of the office and narrowed the memory to one specific line of force: touch. Fingers at the back of my neck. Breath between us. The tiny pause before everything changed. It stripped away witnesses, walls, and context until only the charged space between two people remained. Then it poisoned that too, trying to make longing itself look like surrender.

One of Avery’s bare legs was hooked possessively over Vivian’s thigh, and her hand was splayed flat against the center of Vivian’s chest, resting right over her heart. The heat radiating between them was heavy and inescapable, a stark contrast to the sterile, organized life Vivian usually maintained. The barrier she had carefully constructed was gone, replaced by a quiet, shared warmth that felt both foreign and oddly grounding. Vivian lay perfectly still, her heart hammering against her ribs, terrified that any sudden movement would wake the woman beside her. Every sense was heightened, focused entirely on the weight and presence of Avery. She knew she should re-establish the perimeter, fin

incinerated by the fact that the Human Heart is Un-Writeable. We stood in the center of the "Sovereign Glitch," our breath coming in short, ragged gasps of hot, copper-heavy air. The One-Hundred-and-Forty-Fourth Layer was no longer a cathedral; it was a Void of Pure, Un-Written Potential, where every shadow was a new choice and every drop of blood was a new ocean.

"If I'd known Ruby was going to die, I would've convinced her to give me her heart. Then, I could've been the one with you." "Get lost!" Alan cut Jessica off with a fiery glare, his eyes blazing. "What on earth makes you think you can take Ruby's place?" Caught off guard by Alan's icy retort, Jessica paused, then reached out to touch him. "What's gotten into you, Alan..." "Cut the act." With a look of revulsion, Alan jerked his hand away, his voice icy. "You don't even have a heart condition, do you? Have you been playing this part so long you've started to believe it?

"I just hope it hits hard enough to shatter you into pieces," Instead of anger, her face broke into a sweet, almost innocent smile, the contrast jarring. Then, her eyes locked onto Archie's, her voice taking on a softer, almost wistful tone. "Take care, ex. All the best. You'll know the truth one day, and maybe by then, it'll be too late; your heart will already be in pieces."

The warmth and tenderness had faded, replaced by anger, resentment, and violence. She paused for a moment, her eyes staring blankly at the floor as she wiped away the last of the mess. She wasn’t going to wait for things to go back to how they once were,she had given up on that hope ages ago. The realisation hit her like a cold wave, the love they once shared was gone, and no amount of wishing or waiting would bring it back.

How many mornings had I watched her prepare remedies, her slender fingers working with precision? I placed the moonflowers in a crystal vase, carefully arranging them. The tea I set on her preparation table, where she spent countless hours mixing healing blends. "What am I doing here?" I muttered to myself, pacing the length of the healing den. Something felt incomplete. Missing. It took me several moments to realize what it was—my heart. I had left it behind with her. The emptiness of the den mocked me. Every shadow seemed to whisper her name. Every corner held memories that now felt like daggers in my chest.