The After Effect || short story series: book #1

1.

His fingers scrolled through her profile, the laptop sitting on his lap as the screen's light filled his face with the brightness he seemed to have lost.

There was a new story under her pseudonym; it caught his eye, and the feeling that surged from the pit of his stomach to his hesitant fingertips that hovered over the keyboard, told him that the moment he clicked on the story would be the moment he stepped into her mind.

But curiosity gets the best of everyone, and he was no exception. He wanted to know about the thoughts she kept from him, and about the feelings she once used to have for him, and where they had gone.

He wanted to read about just how bad he had fucked up, and so he clicked. The screen becoming momentarily blinding before the first few words displayed in front of him:

Distance is safety.

The line made him shift in bed, giving him a warning of what was to come. But the more he read the line, the more that realization began to seep into his mind.

She was still so far away from him. All those late night calls, and early mornings, when the moon illuminated her room, but the sun made him close his eyes as he listened to her speak, flashed through his head.

Right?

His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the word in thought. One single word - a simple question - made everything come rushing back to him.

No, not really.