Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 11
Half a year later, I heard the rest of the story from that junior student back in the States.
After Piper got fired, she bounced between two other jobs.
At the first one, she changed a coworker’s desktop wallpaper to an offensive meme. It humiliated the poor guy right in the middle of a big presentation.
At the second, she hacked into her manager’s account to send out a prank announcement. It triggered a massive wave of client complaints.
Nobody bought her excuse that she was just joking around anymore.
She ended up working as a cashier at a convenience store owned by her relatives.
Every single day, she was closely monitored as she scanned barcodes, handed out change, and counted inventory.
She never had another chance to turn someone else’s boundaries into her personal playground.
Drew was doing even worse.
He sold the apartment. But he couldn’t wire me the money because I had completely closed that bank account long ago.
He tried to beg our mutual friends to contact me. No one dared to help him.
Later, he started sending me emails.
One email every single day.
The content was always incredibly brief.
*I didn’t make any bets today.*
*I didn’t touch anyone else’s stuff today.*
*I remembered to ask for permission today.*
But this delayed realization of basic decency meant absolutely nothing to me now.
One day, the student went to run an errand near my old building and ran into him.
He was sitting outside the apartment complex that no longer belonged to him. His fist was death-gripped around that empty anti-anxiety pill bottle.
She said he had the plastic bottle crushed tight against his chest. He didn’t even flinch when people walked past him.
I listened to her story, then drove a nail into the wall to hang my new painting.
In the corner of the canvas, I had painted a completely shattered floor-to-ceiling window.
Inside the window, there was no longer a suffocating deadbolt.
Outside the window was a boundless, open sea, stretching far beneath the aurora.
Three winters later, I flew back to the US to handle the paperwork for my late parents’ estate.
Elias came with me.
When we walked out of the municipal building, the snow was coming down thick and fast.
He pulled my scarf up a little higher around my neck.
“Are you cold?”
“I’m okay.”
“The car is parked across the street. I’ll pull it around. Wait here by the doors?”
I shook my head.
“Let’s walk together.”Â