The night before our trip, Drew tagged me in the group chat.
*”Check your flight.”*
I opened the booking app. The screen showed my ticket was canceled.
It had been refunded three days ago.
Before I could type a single word, messages blew up my screen.
*”Drew and I made a bet. We wanted to see if you’d actually check your booking before we left. I bet you wouldn’t. But he told you to check! Foul play!”* Piper’s text popped up first.
*”Come on. You lost anyway. She really didn’t notice until just now. Just book a new one, Avery. We just won’t be sitting together, that’s all.”* Drew replied right after.
They were having a great time.
Just like the last time. They bet on how many days it would take me to realize our hotel suite was swapped for a shared room where I had to sleep on a cot.
Or the time before that. They bet on whether I’d notice the only museum on our itinerary had been replaced with an escape room.
Every time I told them I hated it, their response was always the same.
*”If you don’t say anything, how are we supposed to know you care?”*
But they never asked.
I didn’t book a new ticket to Cancun.
I opened another app and searched for flights to Iceland.
Watching the aurora in five-degree weather.
All by myself. It sounded perfect.Â
Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 14 My phone buzzed in my pocket right at that moment. The system had filtered an email into my spam folder. The sender was Drew. I didn’t want to click it. But the subject line was only three words long. *The Cancun Ocean.* Inside was a blurry photograph. The beach
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 13 I didn’t stop walking. The pedestrian light turned green. Elias wrapped his hand around mine. His grip was steady and firm, but he didn’t pull me or force my decision. I stepped off the curb and walked across the street. Step by step. Desperate, frantic footsteps echoed behind me.
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 12 When we reached the intersection, I spotted a man crouching on the sidewalk. He wore a ragged coat. His shoulders were bony and hunched. He was fiercely shielding a cheap strawberry cake against his chest. It was Drew. He didn’t recognize me. Or rather, his eyes were completely glued
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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
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 10 His hand trembled violently. “I know it’s too late. But I’ve changed. I swear.” “Whether you changed or not has nothing to do with me.” Piper’s sobs grew more desperate. “Avery, you can’t be this cruel. We’ve known each other for so long. I really was good to you
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 09 On the opening day of the exhibition, the first wave of visitors stopped dead in their tracks in front of the main piece. The canvas Piper had defaced with that eye-rolling frog had been completely reborn. In the painting, a girl was ripping off a grotesque sticker. She had
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 08 A month later, I logged back into my social media and posted my first sketch from Iceland. My inbox had a long, unread message waiting for me. It was from a junior student in my old art program. *Avery, after you left, Drew and Piper had a massive blowout.*
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 07 When Drew sprinted into the hospital, the nurse simply told him the patient had already left. He stood at the end of the sterile hallway. His fist was still clamped tight around my pill bottle. Sweat slicked the plastic surface. On his phone, my final text sat silently on
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 06 I finished listening. My heart was incredibly quiet. As quiet as snow falling in a deserted wasteland. I typed with my left hand and sent a message to the group chat. *Not dead.* Drew replied in a microsecond. *Avery, which hospital are you at? I’m coming right now.* I
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Shattered Glass Unbroken Soul Chapter 05 When I woke up, my arm was strapped to a hospital bed. A nurse was leaning over, changing my dressing. She softened her voice when she saw my eyes open. “You took seven stitches to the forearm. You lost quite a bit of blood. The building security guard heard
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