We Were Never Here Novels & Stories

She always has. “Here we are.”

Theo saw it all from a short distance away. He was still on crutches. His leg hadn't fully healed. I looked at him calmly, and he looked back at me the same way. But unlike mine, his calm was laced with despair. After a bitter smile, he turned and limped away on his crutches. The next day, when I left my building, the ever-present gaze was gone. Theo had gone home. Anna called to tell me Theo had lost his mind.

That was the place we met. Not at an ending. Not at the beginning. But right here without arriving, without leaving, and without needing to prove that what we were building was real. It already was.

No more almost. Just… us.

I'm not going anywhere. Not ever again

We built a world with no name. "Alright my love, I am preparing to leave, you'll call me tomorrow to check on me before my flight, right?" I asked lightly, pretending not to need reassurance as I wore my dress. Julian studied me for a second too long. A look I couldn't decode then, but now understand. "Of course," he said with a faint smile. Of course. Two simple words. That was the last promise he ever made to me.

This was not an ending. This was the life we chose and kept choosing, every single day. And it would last forever. THE END

Not the absence of everything that came before. Just this. Just us. Still here. THE END

Not one text. And I never looked back.

Alive. We did not look back.