All the Best People Are | ✓

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How do you run from what's   inside your head?
~Cheshire Cat
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Listen to Almost is Never Enough by Ariana Grande for this chapter.
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I waited outside Julia's office, thinking of the last time I'd been there. With Leo. 

His name brought back a flood of emotion I didn't know I had. He was the reason my life had changed. He was the reason everyone was happy. But as much as I refused to believe it, I wasn't happy. Not without him. 

I thought about how lonely it must be for him. After all, no one could see him. He had sacrificed so much for others to be happy that he didn't know what happiness was for himself. 

He would stay seventeen forever, watching the world change with time. He was caged in that life; he could never leave. 

He'd fallen in love once: truly, madly and deeply fallen in love with Mia Rivers. He sacrificed his life not only for his sister, but also for Mia, just so that he could continue being with her. But to her, he was invisible. She had moved on and found a different happy ending. Even if it was with another woman's husband and another child's father, it was true love nonetheless. 

But Leo never found his. Eventually, I would continue to live my life. I would age, I would fall in love once again, I would get married, I would have a family of my own. But I couldn't imagine a life without him in it. 

If Leo could sacrifice his happiness for someone he loved, surely I could too. One thought truly did frighten me, however; the possibility that the whole of the previous night was just a dream. The possibility that Leo was just a person my mind had conjured. That maybe I was mad. 

But then, I realized with a jolt, that it didn't matter. Everything we did in our lives was out of love. To love the world for all it was- its snow-capped mountains and scintillating sunrises. Its pale sand-covered beaches and crystal clear water. Its people and their creations. Leo was my world. I loved him more than life itself. 

Of course, I understood the meaning of moving on. Perhaps I could too, if I pushed myself to it. But I didn't want to; it wasn't right. Sacrifice comes into play in the creation of happily ever afters. This time, it was my turn. 

I felt like a living, breathing, walking irony. Just the day before I was the type of girl who couldn't even stand the notion of love at first sight. Hell, I didn't even believe in love! There was a large chance that Leo and I might never grow to love each other the way ever-lasting couples did. There was a chance that we wouldn't even want to be romantically involved after a point. But that was a risk I was willing to take. Even if what I felt towards him was a fleeting emotion, I knew that I would never forgive myself if I let him go. Not again. 

Maybe there was a reason I was the only one who could see him. Maybe it was fate that made me cross paths with him. Maybe there was a reason why he was the one who taught me to believe in love. And maybe, just maybe, I was about to have my happy ending. Just not the one I'd been expecting. 

When the assistant came up to me and told me it was my slot, I knew what I had to do. Walking into that same old office with my head held higher than usual and a slight spring in my step, I looked up at Julia and grinned. "Thank you, Julia."

She smiled back, struggling to hide back her confusion. "Whatever for? And my, you look happy today! Did you meet someone special?" She asked with a teasing grin. I giggled. "That's a light way to put it."

I looked down at my shoes in silence for a few seconds and I could feel her stare digging into me like daggers, expectantly waiting for me to speak. Then, I said the words she'd wanted to hear since the moment she'd met me. 

"People might say I'm crazy. Mad, even. But I think that's what defines me." I took a deep breath. "My mom sent me here in the hopes of making me fit into high school and behave like the other kids. To be normal. But I think what she failed to see was that I'm never going to be like the rest. I talk to imaginary people, I live in fantasy worlds. But really, why does that matter? My imagination makes me happy. It tells me who I am. If people can't learn to love that, then I should let them go; and the people who appreciate it, keep them close. 

"Thank you for making me feel loved, Julia. Thank you for listening to me even when all I did was snap at you and tell you that you couldn't understand me even if you tried." She cracked a smile at that. "But now, I think I'm happy the way things are. I don't think I need to come here anymore."

Julia got up from her desk and walked over to me, her eyes welling with tears. She acted as if she'd known this day would come all along. "Good luck out there, Skott. The world may be filled with darkness, but there's always enough love to balance it out. You just have to learn to see it."

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A

/N Any ideas what's coming next?