Things We Left Behind Novels & Stories

"You don't get to discard me for five years, treat me like a ghost in your own home, and then casually walk back in here demanding my life like I'm some piece of property you left in storage." Adrian: "I didn't treat you like property," Adrian said, his voice dropping into a low, raw register, his eyes searching my face with a desperate hunger. "I treated you like an afterthought because I was a coward. I was so wrapped up in protecting a legacy that meant nothing without you in it that I didn't realize I was starving the only real thing I had." Evelyn: "And now you realize it? Because I built something of my own?" I laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "If Silverline had failed yesterday if Sop

Not because it had been erased, but because I no longer bled from it every day. In the end, we found our way back to each other in winter. Snow was falling. She stood outside under the pale light, said nothing, and simply held out her hand. This time, I did not step back. The past did not disappear. It never could. But time had carried us far enough that the wounds no longer ruled my life. And for the first time, what waited ahead of me was not borrowed, conditional, or secondhand. It was mine.

I could see the tears that had been threatening to spill. “How could I stay away when you’re still here, Mom?” I replied, my voice softening. And then, she broke. Her tears spilled over as she cried out, “I’m sorry… I’ve misjudged you all these years…” It turned out that Mother had discovered the full extent of Mireille’s and Michael’s betrayals. She had filed for divorce immediately and tried to reclaim what she had given them—everything they’d taken. But Mireille and Michael had acted faster, fleeing the country overnight and taking many of the valuable items with them.

Get back to your senses. But… what if? No. No, there is no such thing. There is no such thing as love at first sight it does not exist, it will never exist. It’s just something dumb that fairytale movies make us want to believe in. I was stupid to believe in it once. I won’t be a fool twice. Riven thought to himself. Deep in his thoughts, he forgot he was in a Zoom meeting ‐everyone was waiting for him to speak. “Boss?” one brave man on the screen broke the silence.

He gently grabbed my sleeve and asked if he would ever see me in the future. I shook my head. I turned and walked away quickly, not once looking back at him. So that day, one went up the mountain and the other took the route by the river. That’s how we said goodbye, and hoped that our paths never crossed again.

Why waste money cleaning this whole junk up to finally demolish it? The place was not too shabby despite being locked for four years. Cobwebs surrounded the whole place, though it wasn’t too much to walk around. Obviously, if anyone had dust allergy they should stay away, but Ryan felt somehow attracted to the place. It was the place where he spent almost a year with that devil. He walked to a room filled with toys and games. A bed at the side, the dirty curtains still hanging around. He remembered this print on the curtain. Even the bloodstains were still there. That night, he climbed through this window and left that stain on his bloodied arm.

Together, we drove into the unknown, leaving behind the shattered remnants of a wedding that should never have been. ®✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓THE END

Freya After surviving the cruelest truth,I was ready to leave everything behind. "I'm resigning." The words left my mouth before I could think twice. I sat by the window of my penthouse,watching the city lights blur into the night. For three years,this place had been called home,but right now it felt like a stranger's cage.

Just today, the way you knew sometimes that a thing was ready before you'd consciously decided it was. The hard drive was in the closet. In a box with other things she'd carried from the old apartment without examining — a scarf she'd forgotten she owned, three chargers for phones she no longer had, a photograph from a work event two years ago where she was smiling the smile she'd had before October. The hard drive was at the bottom, small and black and patient, the way things waited when you weren't ready for them. She plugged it in. The file was still there.

Better than death? Elias walked beside me, stiff-backed, glaring at anyone who stared at us too long. Mother busied herself with a basket of clothes, though her hands shook, while Father carried a bundle of dried meat and herbs. We had little to pack— Yet it still felt as though we were abandoning more than possessions. We were leaving behind the soil that held our ancestors, the hearths that had warmed us through winters, the walls that had heard our laughter and our grief. “Aria.” I froze. The voice was sharp, bitter, unmistakable.