The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

by Breanne Randall

Some people needed flowers and pretty words. Sadie needed truth and kept promises.

“People should like you for you. Not what you do for them. You’re always afraid people are going to leave, so you do anything you can to make them stay.”

“When you stop being so afraid of being alone, you’ll realize your worth and stop letting people walk all over you.”

was warm as apple cider

“Today is going to be a good day,”

Last night she’d thought it would be easy to shove him out of her mind. To forget about him yet again. And now the universe was mocking her, delivering him on a silver platter while she was drowned in butter.

Sadie held onto the past like a drunkard clutching his whisky. Vices like that were a comfort blanket when you feared the future.

But Jake broke promises like cinnamon sticks.

“My dad says that the thing about the past is that when there’s pain, that’s all you remember.

But when there’s joy, even if it’s a little bit, you forget all the shitty things that went along with it. I mean I added the ‘shitty’ part because you know he’d never say that. But that’s why people make terrible decisions over and over again.”