Unsteady Novels & Stories

A loaded weapon with no safety on. “That’s instability,” I say softly. “That’s fear. Or confusion. Or both.” Carter studies the screen. “It spiked right after the breach.” “Because she felt it,” I reply. “Even if she doesn’t know what it was.” And that excites me more than the broken anchor. Because a stable enemy is predictable. An unstable one? That’s chaos waiting to be shaped. I breathe in slowly. The air smells like wet grass and early morning. Peaceful. Ordinary.

--- “Ariana, listen—” --- The connection flickered. --- “—you have to stabilize it—” --- Cut. --- Ariana’s eyes sharpened. --- “Stabilize,” she repeated. --- The word mattered. --- Not force. Not push. --- Stabilize. --- She adjusted. --- Her hand didn’t press harder. --- It steadied. --- Balanced. --- The crack responded. --- Not by widening suddenly. --- But by holding. --- The flickering slowed. --- The light steadied.

She thought. "Something that matters?" he asked. "The company's stocks are falling." She said "I know" Devian said. "You know?" Arien was surprised "how could he still be so calm?" She thought. "Don't worry about me" he teased her. "I'm not...." "You do" he didn't let her complete. "Whatever, can we head back today?" She asked. She can't be so selfish. He was here to help her but Devian's own business was not stable and the reason was her. She had to think about him as he was thinking about her.

Stacey said going through hangers as Alex and Matthew stood by the side "What's a ducky wucky?" Alex asked Matthew, who just shrugged. "Stacey I can put pick my own clothes you know, I have fashion sense." "Judging by what you currently have on, I don't think so," Stacey said. "What's wrong with what I have on?" Alex wondered, looking down at his clothes. "It's lacks fashion sense." Matthew filled in for Stacey, while she nodded in agreement making Alex sigh. "Now go try this on, after that, we are getting you a new hairdo-"

There was no time to change her mind. She stood in the middle of the room and started swaying. People thought she was going to dance but in reality, she only moved around swaying while looking at the golden hairpin. After about three seconds, she opened her mouth and sweetly sang one of the melodies from her home. The eunuch was so dumbfounded he wanted to clean his ears and listen to what she was singing again. The completely different language added a more dark undertone to her song but it was really moving. She looked so sweet and yet so vicious that the eunuch could not help but shudder in fear. Her voice really was not bad.

He grabbe by the hair, pulling and dragging me to his heart's content. "You want to leave? You want to go back to Demetrius and leave me here all alone? You are mine and not even Demetrius can take you away." I whimpered in pain, this man was unstable, he was insane and I feared what he would do to me if I continued to disobey him.

Alex stretched her neck as per her normal routine. Fifteen hours this time. Not really a record. She was feeling a little more lethargic than usual. She tapped the lights on and hit it three times in quick succession to get it to the dimmest. The lights went from dimmest to brightest. She shook her head and squinted against the light, smacking the table again causing the lights to go back off. Stupid automatic updates, always changing the way things worked. She tapped it once and the lights turned on dimly. She sighed. Why was everything so hard?

“Just promise me you won’t make the same mistake again.” I blinked many times, taken aback. “Excuse me?” And then he just flipped a hand in the air and shook his head. He leaned down and took his cup of coffee that I now think had cooled. “Nothing. Forget about what I just said,” he told me after sipping the liquid. “My brain is just a mess whenever you’re near, Ameena.” God, why did I agree to this bargain again? “It will be hard for me to get used to that name.” I inhaled, one that was long and deep.

Because she felt it too. That subtle and unresolved tension. The voice spoke again. “Coexistence… introduces instability.” Zara rolled her eyes. “Everything introduces instability to you.” But the voice continued. “Instability increases unpredictability.” I frowned. “Define risk.” A pause, then... “Uncontrolled divergence.” The words settled heavy because we had focused on balance. But balance is fragile and Melissa’s voice was quiet. “How much risk?” The silence was longer this time then... “Unknown.” That was worse than any defined threat.

It was steady. At the Institute, Anya reviewed a new category added to internal tracking: unresolved but stable. The classification unsettled several departments. It defied the instinct to categorize issues as either active or closed. Yet the data supported it. Certain tensions no longer escalated. They remained present, acknowledged, managed through ongoing attention rather than resolution. Anya approved the category without hesitation. Naming endurance made it easier to sustain.