Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 31

I kept my eyes on the tablecloth, fingers tracing the invisible line where my mom’s bracelet used to rest. My wrist felt bare now. Exposed. Not just in skin, but in meaning. I lost the one thing that still felt like hers, and in losing it, I felt like I lost part of myself too.

I didn’t answer him.

“If you won’t say anything,” Dad continued, sighing as he leaned back. He looked so tired, like the kind of tired that sleep can’t fix. “Then I’m grounding you. Until I understand what’s happening to you.”

His voice didn’t rise. That’s how I knew he was serious. When my dad loves, it shows in how he tightens the grip. When he’s scared, he holds even tighter.

“You’re not allowed to go out with James anymore,” he said. “You can still see him at school. But after that--- I’ll pick you up. No distractions. No more of this. This is getting out of hand, B.”

I just nodded. I couldn’t trust my voice. It felt like glass in my throat, sharp and too fragile to speak through.

I stood up. Each step away from him felt heavier than the last, like I was walking through water, like the gravity in our house had suddenly shifted.

In my room, I sat at the edge of my bed and let my fingers wrap around my wrist again. I still reached for it. The bracelet used to feel like my connection to something meaningful. A promise. A whisper from her. "See the light, even when it’s hard."

But today, the light felt far. Today, the world branded James like a warning sign. And somehow, I was the storm that brought him down, or maybe I was the girl foolish enough to believe I could love someone the world refused to understand.

What can I do?

Can I fight an entire school’s whispers? Can I undo what people think they already know? Can I hold on to someone the world already decided is too broken for someone like me?

I don’t know. And that terrifies me.

Because for the first time, it’s not just my heart on the line. It’s his too.

And I’m starting to realize the cost of trying to carry someone else’s pain when I haven’t even learned how to hold my own.

Just like that... my world began to tilt.

There wasn’t a single crash or thunderclap, no dramatic scene or slow-motion goodbye. It just… happened. A quiet letting go of the things I used to believe.

One morning, I stopped meeting his eyes in the hallway. The next, I stopped replying to his texts. Then I stopped eating with them altogether, not just with James, but with Inez too. My sweet, stubborn Inez who always tried to make space for me. I couldn’t even look her in the face. Not because she did something wrong, but because I knew if she said one honest word, I’d fall apart completely.

So I hid.

Inside the cramped CR cubicle, where the buzz of the fluorescent lights drowned out the noise in my head. In the dusty storage room, where the forgotten chairs and half-broken bulletin boards felt more welcoming than the cafeteria’s stares. On the rooftop, where I could pretend the wind was enough to hold me together.

Anywhere that wasn’t here. Anywhere that didn’t sound like whispers.

"She’s better off without him."
"She’s ruining her future."
"He’s dragging her down."

They didn’t say it to my face, but they didn’t have to. Their eyes screamed it louder than any voice could. And worse? A small, tired part of me started to believe them.

Because what can I do?

How do you fight the world when you're still learning how to fight for yourself?