Small Steps Novel Novels & Stories

His cane tapped softly against the marble. He stopped only a few feet away, his eyes searched my face, then my hands, then my feet, "What is this called?" My lips felt dry, "The Four Lives I Never Chose." He waited. I looked across the gardens, "The first girl grows up afraid of her own home. The second mistakes a cage for love," I swallowed, "The third finally finds someone worth loving... and never gets to keep him. And the last girl loses the only person who ever made her feel safe."

Focus. Just focus. I straightened and kept moving. But the stairs ahead were steep. And dark. I carefully placed one foot down. Then the next. Then— My foot slid again. “Ahh!” This time I fell fully onto the steps. Pain shot lightly through my knee. I hissed quietly and pushed myself up. That’s one. I continued. Step. Step. Step— “Ah!” I slipped again. Second fall. This time my hand hit the stone. Not too hard.

Everyone crowded closer, unable to hold back their curiosity. On the bank statement, there was only a single deposit of 1,300 dollars. That lone transaction sat there like a blade, slicing straight through the carefully woven lies of Nancy and her son. The entire room fell into silence. The guests' expressions shifted from scorn toward me to shock and doubt directed at the Jones family. Then, the whispers started again, swelling like a rising tide. "Oh, my God! It really is only 1,300. Not 130,000? Nancy, why would you tell such a lie?"

He hesitated for a moment, but since he had pressing matters, he didn’t argue further. After work, I walked home alone. The setting sun painted the city streets in a warm, red glow. Suddenly, a voice called out behind me. “Tess!” It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it immediately. Hence, I stopped and turned around. The sunset’s rays hit my face, making me squint. The figure hurried toward me, and as they got closer, the blurry outline became clear. To my surprise, it was Claire. She looked nothing like the glamorous, confident woman I remembered. Her hair was messy, her face pale, and dark circles lined her eyes, evidence of long nights without rest. She wore a wrinkled coat that made

I take the stairs two at a time and let myself into 4C. The apartment is small. Obsessively clean, but small. Kitchen linoleum peeling at the corners. Refrigerator grinding loud enough to register from the bedroom. I peel off the borrowed heels from Annika, half a size too small—and the blood rushes back into my toes like a reprieve.

SMALL STEPS It started with a book. Rain didn't plan it. She was at the penthouse on a Friday evening — dinner with Damien, ordinary and unhurried — and when she was leaving, she picked up the novel she had been reading from the coffee table and put it in her bag without thinking. Then stopped. Looked at it. Left it on the shelf instead. Damien watched this from across the room and said nothing. The following week, she brought a cardigan.

And once again, for the same person. Still, in her current state, she looked as if even a soft gust of wind could knock her over. I invited her inside and got her a glass of water. It was a simple act, but it got her staring at me with excitement. She thought I was relenting, but I shattered her fantasy right away. "No. Kill that thought right now. I just didn't want you fainting outside my apartment. If your family found out, they'd never stop bothering me. Your mother is more annoying than ten mediocre singers shouting ten different songs off-key at the same time."

Nothing good ever happens to me. I take some deep breaths and I put my shoes on. I opened the door and the scent hits me again. I give a couple of steps and I stop in front of her door taking in her smell. I shake my head telling myself this can’t happen and I walk downstairs towards outside. There’s a big tent in the back garden of the house and I can hear people talking. The noise is defining. The pack was sent to only had the elders unmarked. I never got to mark Emily. A year appears on the corner of my eye and I shake all those thoughts away from my head as I walk inside the tent.

She felt like she was a kept woman! While being lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that Lisa pushed the book that was placed in the table towards her. "Speaking about this book, I've got this for you since you don't have anything to do anyways. It's a book about making pills. You should give it a try." Lisa said. Naomi looked at the book that was pushed towards her. The cover wasn't that ugly nor fancy as it looked quite ordinary. The cover had some words written on it which were "The First Steps of Becoming a Mage" which should be the book's title. The book was somehow thick.

she said and caressed my face. That night, I ordered a customized notebook entitled '100 Steps to his Heart' and wrote all the things I have discovered about him on the internet. Of course, it wasn't enough and this was obviously not gonna be an easy journey. With the unexpected twist and turns of fate, I managed to be on the enemy's territory not knowing who the real enemy was. I realized it was too late to fight a losing game where a heart and a wrecked life was on the line. Unfortunately, I lost.