The Upside of Falling

by Alex Light

I had gotten into the habit of ending every day with the same question: Was it worth remembering or forgetting?

I was going through two books a week. I could not get enough. It was like, if love couldn’t exist in reality, at least it was alive in fiction.

Like what was wrong with being single? What was wrong with not having someone’s hand to hold and whatever else couples do? Why couldn’t a seventeen-year-old just be on her own and everyone be okay with that? Without expecting her to fall in love at any given moment?

“Reading helps me. It’s like I’m in another world when I read. And all the problems in my life don’t exist anymore. It helps.”

“I can’t believe I have a crush on a girl with such horrible ice cream taste.”

“Then let me show you that I can be the one who stays.”

“Read to me.” “Why?” “Because you go somewhere else when you read. I want to go there with you.”