I meet her gaze and swallow hard.“Because she hates me.”It comes out too fast.“Because she told me she never wanted to see me again.”
It’s not a lie.But it’s also not the full truth.The truth is, I can’t face her right now.Not after everything.Not after what she found out.
I need time.I need space.I need to speak to my therapist so he can help me sort through everything.I need to call my sponsor.I probably need to breathe.
It started simple.A message.Then another.Something casual.But her words cut through the static like music in a silent room.Familiar in a way that made me ache.She reminded me what it felt like to be known—fully, without effort.No masks.No careful phrasing.Just ...understood.
We fell into a rhythm, like breath and heartbeat syncing without trying.I stopped overthinking every sentence.I looked forward to her name lighting up the screen.She made the world quieter, simpler.Safer.
Talking to her felt like stepping inside after being caught in the rain—unexpected warmth, the slow easing of muscles I didn’t realize were clenched.She didn’t need me to explain myself.Somehow, she already knew.Like she was reading the footnotes of my soul, the parts no one else had ever bothered to notice.No one ...except Kit.
Fuck, that’s the thing about this stranger though.Somewhere in all that, I started to believe—really believe—I could fall for someone again.
That I was falling.
Maybe, for the first time in forever, I could let go of the ghost of Kit.That love didn’t have to be pain, wearing flowery perfume.That there might be room in me for something new.
But that’s not how this story ends—or begins.
The truth is, I wasn’t falling for someone new.
I was rediscovering the woman I’ve always belonged to.
Because some people are stitched into your story before the first page.Star-crossed.Written in.Written deep.And no matter how far you run, how long you stay apart, you find each other again.
Not because it’s easy.
But because the story was never over.
ChapterNinety-Four
Private Message | EchoZone Internal Chat
From: DeadStrings
To: StringTheory27
Date: August 26th, 1997, 3:28 AM
Subject: I’m here
Otis has officially madepeace with cats.I think that counts as personal growth—for him, at least.One of us is learning how to coexist and become a better person.
Things on my end have been a little sideways lately.I mentioned the family stuff, and while it’s not all cleaned up, the fires have mostly cooled.That said, I had to shift a few plans around.Or maybe it’s less of a pause and more of a detour—I enrolled in a couple of community college classes here in San Francisco.One of them is an intro to cooking.Don’t get your hopes up just yet.We’re still at the “how to boil an egg without triggering a smoke alarm” stage.
Otis and I also found a few new places where we can volunteer.And I started giving music lessons to the neighbors’ kids.It’s small, low-volume stuff, but it’s movement.It’s not the blueprint I imagined when I decided to rebuild things, but it’s happening.And right now, that feels like enough.
How are you holding up?
I’ve been thinking about what you shared.I’m still sorry about your father—not just the fact that he’s gone, but the layers of truth that came with losing him.That’s a strange kind of grief.One that’s not easy to talk about because it doesn’t fit neatly into sympathy cards or polite conversations.
So if you want to talk, I’m here.
And if not, you know what to do—send music.
ChapterNinety-Five
Private Message | EchoZone Internal Chat
