Good for You

by Camille Pagán

Though she sometimes felt she’d walked into a party she hadn’t been invited to, Aly was born to do this work.

After all, they were roommates, at least for the time being. Co-owners, she corrected herself, but then another voice in her head whispered, cellmates

Because why else would he push her secret button—the one that got triggered when someone tried to do anything that remotely resembled caring for her?

“Just let things unfold the way they’re going to, okay?”

I didn’t want to keep doing something I hated for a single second longer than I had to.

What I do know is that I’m sick of living the way I’m supposed to.”

But maybe we’re not supposed to get over things like this.

Everyone else acknowledges how bad it is at first, but then over time, they move on, and you’re still carrying around that heavy loss.

Sometimes what got you here won’t take you there, though. You know?”

“Just leave a little space for spontaneity,” added Mari. “You might be pleasantly surprised by what happens when you let life happen to you.”

What was wrong with this world, that the best people were taken too soon?

Whereas for Aly, opening a new planner would forever feel like Christmas; deciding on the particulars of a trip excited her as much as the experience itself.

Everyone was put on this planet to do something only they could do, whether it was curing cancer or brightening strangers’ days with a megawatt smile;

Yet her subconscious had played the worst trick on her of all, making her think that giving in to impulse this one time might—just might—be okay.

She took a deep breath: it even smelled like books. Did a better scent exist?