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 looked miserable and gloomy. The crashing waves were a dirty ash-gray.
There was only one sentence written underneath.
*Avery, the ocean here is so cold. If I could do it all over again, I swear I’d be the first to ask you what you actually cared about.*
I stared at that line. I didn’t feel sad. I didn’t even feel the urge to mock him.
A question that arrived years too late was no longer an answer.
I hit “Delete Forever” and completely emptied my trash folder.
Elias tilted his head and looked at me.
“What’s wrong?”
I placed my phone face down on the table and leaned my head onto his shoulder.
“Just clearing out some old spam that was eating up space.”
He didn’t press for details. He simply draped a thick wool blanket over my knees.
The vibrant aurora danced above the glass roof.
Elias wrapped his arms around me from behind. His voice pressed right against my ear.
“Are you nervous about the award ceremony tomorrow?”
I shook my head.
“Not at all.”
Three years ago, I thought losing the Aurora Fellowship meant I had lost my only path to the future.
Later, I finally understood. A path isn’t a quota handed out by someone else. And it certainly isn’t a destroyed competition.
The path was me picking myself up out of the rubble, over and over again, and continuing to paint.
Elias whispered.
“Congratulations, Avery.”
I looked up at the window.
The aurora looked like a massive, glowing whale, swimming silently through the night sky.
I never had to wait for anyone to open a door for me ever again.
My life was finally back in my own hands.
[The End]Â