We're Not Meant To Be Novels & Stories

We weren’t alone anymore. To Be Continued…

"The 'White Man'... he said we were a mistake. Are we?" "We are the Beautiful Mistake, Hope," I said, walking toward them and kneeling in the snow. I took her hands in mine, ignoring the static that bit at my palms. "The West wants a world where nothing ever breaks. But if nothing breaks, nothing ever grows. We are the 'Too Much' energy that keeps the world from turning into a stone."

I had neither. We weren’t friends. What the hell was I thinking? Why was I here with him? “I don’t like boxes, pretty boy,” Jordan said, cutting into my thoughts. “Terminologies. Restrictions. Friends, enemies… the world is too full of them. Can’t we just be… us? You and I.” You and I. Jordan and I. I liked the sound of that way too much. Of course, he meant it as platonically as possible. Jordan didn’t swing that way.

I heard her sigh, “They will want to be close to one another as mates, it’s a whole biological thing with them. Mates are a huge thing in our world, we wait for them, we dream of them, they are the only ones we can truly be happy with, so mates are a blessing to us.” She rubbed her hands on her face, “Well, I have issues with being told I have to do shit. I had enough of that, so, I’m not overly likely to just fall in line because someone tells me I have to, even if that is the someone currently occupying my brain.”

Don blinked, his jaw tightening as he prepared to cut her off, but before he could utter a word, she kept going, her words flowing smoothly, final and unshakeable. "Yesterday, standing on that sidewalk, watching the two of you walk away together, I didn't see a boyfriend and a friend who were just busy with a medical file," she said, looking back and forth between Don and Maria. "I saw two people who fit perfectly together, who share a life, an ambition, and a language that I am completely excluded from, and instead of staying here, making myself miserable, begging for scraps of your attention, and watching that gap grow wider every single day, I am choosing to leave, I am choosing myself."

People like Riffen are definitely helpless. Doris thought, “Riffen, aren't you angry? I mean to tease you like crazy, but it's best to go crazy. I didn't mean to say that I couldn't say it, anyway, life is too bad, if you can't say it, life is a bit boring but it's better than being forced to say things that shouldn't be said. Thank you, Riffen, it may seem like not being able to say it is a disadvantage, but for a person like me who is not as good as dead, not being able to speak can make you angry, not happy, so it is not a waste." Riffen got angry, he approached Doris, one hand forcefully squeezed her mouth again and said:

“I’m saying you’ve got to survive. And in high school, that means being the lion, not the gazelle. It’s not about being mean; it’s about being untouchable. If that means being a bully, then so be it." I nodded slowly, the pieces clicking into place. If being untouchable meant I’d never have to feel like this again—humiliated, weak, small—then I’d do whatever it took. Thomas clapped me on the shoulder, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “You’ve got potential, Logan. Just don’t waste it.” That night, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying his advice over and over. Tomorrow would be different. Tomorrow, I’d start building a version of myself no one could knock down.

And we're not moving either. We're stuck. Alone.

And if you’ve ever stood before a mirror and not recognized the woman staring back… If you’ve ever reshaped yourself to be loved, only to lose yourself in the process… If you’ve ever stayed too long — in a relationship, a job, a friendship — because you were afraid of what leaving would mean… This story is for you. You are not broken. You are not “too much.” You are not “not enough.” You are here. And that is everything.

Tonight we didn’t break. We didn’t fall. We didn’t give them what they wanted. And that? That’s a win. For now.