When You Stop Reaching Out First Novels & Stories

"What are you doing? I just got Ruby to sleep. She can't be left alone for a second. What if something happens?" He reached for his phone to call her back. Unwilling to let ten years go to waste, I snatched it from his hand. My eyes burned as I forced out the strongest words I'd ever said, "Layne, if you contact her one more time, we're done." Layne froze, a flicker of complex emotions crossing his eyes as he started to speak. Then, Ruby's call came through again. Her soft, tearful sobs filled the line. He turned his back to me and gently comforted her.

She typed slowly. Then stopped. Deleted it. Started again. The response that didn't want to happen but needed to. “Thank you for making sure the kids are taken care of.” Pause. Then she added— “But I need space. Do not contact me right now.” She stared at it. Then hit send. For the first time— No immediate reply came back. He watched her carefully. “You don’t have to deal with that right now,” he said. Sophia nodded. “I’m not going to.”

"Sometimes." She held my gaze. She said: "The word is traveling. The pull is reaching people before we reach them. The founding ground's reputation is moving faster than its Keeper network." She held my gaze. "When people arrive who have heard about it from others rather than felt the pull themselves, the reception is different. They arrive with a picture built by someone else rather than by their own feeling." She paused. "The founded ground should arrive first." "Yes," I said. "Which means the Keepers need to be ahead of the word," she said.

Could not reach back into the rejection at the gate and unmake the words. “It does not look like anything specific,” I said. “It does not look like grand gestures or formal apologies or anything you do once and then it is done.” I paused. “It looks like consistency. It looks like showing up every day in ways that are small and ordinary and do not require an audience.” I paused again. “It looks like knowing when to step back.” I thought about the tree line. “You have already done that once today.” He was quiet for a moment.

“I’m Noah Carter… okay, you knew that already. Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but…” Theodore wheels around suddenly, stopping me in my tracks. His eyes flashes with rage. “What the fuck is your problem?” My problem? “I don’t have one,” I say evenly, keeping my tone light. I step closer to the man, offering him my best smile. “I just want to be friends with the captain. We’re on the same team now, and might as well.”

You are distraught, but you still go with the very first possibility. How come several people just stop treating us very well once they have made a significant impact on our hearts and soul? Is it their only goal to get us to say "I love you too"? What about utilizing that? Efforts are brought to a halt. Inconsistency comes into play. When the conversation becomes extremely uncommon, you are becoming accustomed to not having their presence when you require it.

Steady. Real. And when I step away this time, it doesn’t feel like losing ground. Because for the first time since this whole thing started, I stopped trying to win. And started trying to be understood.

The trust that once held our partnership together has begun to fray, leaving me questioning her true intentions. "Damn it," I mutter under my breath, finally deciding to respond to her persistent attempts to contact me. I carefully craft a polite message, explaining that I am on a business trip and will not be discussing any matters related to her at the moment. As I hit send, I can't help but wonder how much longer our partnership can last, knowing full well that I need to find a way to sever ties with her.

And sometimes, loving yourself begins with noticing when someone else is slowly teaching you how not to. I lay back on my bed, phone in hand, staring at his last message: I miss you. Before, I would have replied instantly. Now, I took a breath first. cleared my head and started to think of something else just to distract myself it hurts a lot. I try to avoid thinking of it But what can i do??