The Matter With Things Novels & Stories

“So this is it.” “You’ve chosen her completely.” He didn’t meet my eyes at first. Then, as if even he felt the shame of it, his voice softened. “Elara, if either of you is unhappy, it weighs on me.” “Your mother isn’t coming back. It’s only a bracelet. If you want one that badly, I’ll buy you a hundred.” I grabbed the nearest cup and hurled it at his head. “No.” The impact split the skin at his forehead. He staggered back, blood running down his temple.

Are all things worth it? One last week for Miana to do all the things she needed to be done before flying to the USA. It seemed things were not going smoothly like how she planned them to. Problems overlapping with itself. Her past and present collide at the same time made her think and worry more. She has tested for how long she can stand up with everything. She’s watching the outside world from her window when a text message came. Message: Ate, mom gone mad at us. She threw our clothes outside. We didn’t sleep for days now. She doesn’t want us to contact you. She broke our phones. I borrowed this from our neighbor. Come home, please. We can’t take this anymore.

It all seemed so wrong in the sunlight. Teddy wanted to hold things in his hand, to feel their solidity, a solidity he now understood that people only possess in brief. The years add up, all to nothing, unlike the plastic table in front of him, which could well last for a thousand years. ‘We are nothing,’ Teddy said. Sèdonoudè did, and did not, understand. ***

It muffled the world into a strange kind of stillness, the kind that made you think you were the only soul alive for miles. I stood at the kitchen counter, fingers wrapped around a mug of tea I wasn’t drinking, staring out the frosted window. My mind kept looping back to the letter in my mother’s journal. That single, haunting C. And the feeling I’d had last night the whisper, the presence that lingered like a shadow even in daylight.

That is enough for now. He thought about adding something about the gift of the journal to Thomas — the gesture, the handwritten note, the three sentences. He thought about whether the gesture needed to be recorded. He decided it did. The accumulation included the small things as well as the large. The small things were the accumulation, in a sense. The large things — the publication, the argument, the book — were the visible peaks. The small things were the mass of the mountain beneath the peaks.

CHAPTER 49 — THE THINGS WE DON’T SAY POV: Ezra The problem with erosion isn’t that you notice it. It’s that you adjust to it. By week three of subtle interference, we’re functioning again. Classes. Training. Meals. Sleep almost. Nothing dramatic. No shattered glass. No celestial manifestations splitting the sky. Just Absence. The hum of the invisible doors fades. The digital glitches stop. Administrative errors correct themselves. Matteo’s mind is quiet again.

Even though they are just materialistic things, I still feel a connection to them. Materialistic things are underrated, according to me. When we get something for a home, even for a car, for a small shop, or for a desk to complete the look, it automatically becomes a part of our emotions. I got each of these things to make the look of our home complete. And it hurts to let them go. It hurts to let this villa go.

The village bustled with activity. Children played in the streets. Merchants sold food. Farmers argued about prices. Life. Simple life. Then Thomas noticed something. Nobody was afraid. No one glanced nervously toward the sky. No one worried about darkness. No one expected disaster. Then he smiled. The little things mattered. Maybe more than the big ones. Then Ava nudged him. Then: "You're smiling." Then: "That's suspicious." Honestly? Fair. Very fair. Reasonable honestly. Then Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Sitting in my chair, I stared into the distance at everything that mattered to me in a world where everything was supposedly possible. I'll tell you what-no one can jump above their heads. If you think you've exceeded your limit, then you didn't know what you were capable of. But perhaps I'd better tell you about a story where something incredible happened. I was an ordinary person until a certain point – the moment when my world turned upside down-Roman began his story, which was interviewed by a journalist for National Geographic magazine.

With all the noise and filth cleared away, my world finally became peaceful again. There was still a long road ahead. The world is big. There's plenty of room out there to make your own way.