Forbidden

by Tabitha Suzuma

I have long perfected the art of being invisible.

He is my soul mate, my fresh air, the reason I look forward to getting up every morning. I always knew I love him more than anyone else in the world—and not just in a brotherly way, the way I feel about Kit and Tiffin. Yet somehow it never crossed my mind there could be a whole step beyond. . . .

As the light begins to intensify, so does my misery, and I wonder how it is possible to hurt so much when nothing is wrong.

I feel an overwhelming ache, like acute homesickness—a longing for something I can never have.

Being together, we harm nobody; being apart, we extinguish ourselves.