The Edge Of Something

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The riverbank was quiet except for the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind. The sky stretched endlessly above them, a deepening shade of twilight.

Raveena hadn’t planned on being here.

She hadn’t planned on a lot of things.

Yet here she was, sitting next to Damien on the cool grass, watching the ripples in the water.

“How’d you find this place?” she asked.

Damien tossed a pebble into the river, watching it sink. “I like quiet places.”

She nodded. She understood that.

“Tell me something real,” he said, breaking the silence.

She turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean something you don’t tell other people.” He tilted his head, watching her. “Something real.”

Raveena hesitated, gripping a blade of grass between her fingers. She could have laughed it off, dodged the question. But for some reason, she didn’t.

“I don’t think love is meant for me,” she said softly.

Damien didn’t react, just waited.

She swallowed hard. “I’ve seen what it does to people. It wrecks them.”

The wind picked up, brushing strands of her hair across her face. She quickly tucked them behind her ear, refusing to meet his gaze.

After a long moment, Damien spoke. “Maybe love doesn’t wreck people,” he said quietly. “Maybe people wreck love.”

She glanced at him, surprised by the certainty in his voice.

For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t sure she was right.

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The closer she got to Damien, the more afraid she became.

She wanted to push him away, to tell him this wasn’t going to end well. But every time she tried, he stayed.

“You’re scared,” he said one day.

She flinched. “Of what?”

“Of feeling something real.”

She didn’t deny it. Couldn’t. Because Damien was right.

But as she looked at him—the boy who saw her when no one else did—she realized something even scarier.

She wasn’t sure if she could stop.

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Chapter Eight: Walls Crumbling

Raveena had always been careful. Always measured her words, her emotions.

But with Damien, her walls were cracking.

She noticed it in small ways—how she waited for his texts at night, how she found herself scanning the crowd for him in the mornings. How, when he was near, the world felt a little less heavy.

And that terrified her.

Because nothing good ever lasted.

One afternoon, as they sat under a tree outside school, Damien nudged her shoulder. “You overthink everything, don’t you?”

She rolled her eyes. “No.”

His smirk told her he didn’t believe that for a second. “What are you so afraid of?”

She hesitated. Then, finally, she whispered, “Getting hurt.”

Damien’s expression softened. “Not everyone leaves, Raveena.”

She wanted to believe him. But belief was dangerous.

So she stayed silent.

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Raveena could feel it—the shift between them.

It was in the way Damien looked at her, the way his hand lingered a second longer when they brushed against each other.

It was terrifying.

And exhilarating.

One evening, as they sat on the rooftop of an old parking garage, Damien turned to her. “You ever think about what comes next?”

She hugged her knees to her chest. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t plan for things that won’t last.”

Damien was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Maybe this will.”

Her breath hitched.

For a moment, she almost believed him.

Almost.

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It had been inevitable.

Raveena had let Damien get too close, and now she had to fix it.

She couldn’t let herself fall. She couldn’t risk the pain that would come when he eventually left—because everyone left.

So she did the only thing she knew how to do.

She pushed him away.

“I don’t need you,” she said, her voice sharper than she intended.

Damien frowned. “What?”

She forced herself to meet his eyes. “This… whatever this is? It’s nothing. You don’t know me, Damien.”

His jaw clenched. “I know you more than you think.”

“No, you don’t.” She crossed her arms, willing herself to be cold. “You’re wasting your time.”

Something flickered in his eyes—hurt, frustration.

But he didn’t yell. He didn’t fight.

He just nodded once. “If that’s what you want.”

Then he turned and walked away.

And for the first time in a long time, Raveena felt truly alone.

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