It Ends with Her

by Brianna Labuskes

The highs hadn’t been as intense, but the lows hadn’t crushed her, either. Maybe happiness wasn’t something everyone could get. But emotional stability was certainly underrated.

That didn’t make her a great human or a great friend. But he’d never asked that of her. Maybe he didn’t think she was capable of it. Maybe she didn’t think she was.

And everything that was between them narrowed to that one place where sweatshirt met sweatshirt. The years of frustration, hope, despair, laughter, crushing defeat, friendship. The memories were palpable entities, as if she could reach out and capture them. Fireflies that she would be able to hold in her palm, that she could put into a jar and watch as they lit the world.