a perfect contradiction • lrh

Eleanor's epilogue

Eleanor’s Diary
March 3rd — San Francisco

I used to think love had to hurt to be real. That maybe the fire was supposed to burn you before it warmed you.

But I’ve learned something new.

Love, real love, is quiet in the best ways. It's safety in a storm. It's someone holding your broken wrist like it’s made of glass, singing you to sleep even when you’re too unconscious to hear. It’s showing up -no matter how many miles stretch between you.

Luke knocked on my door just as the last part of me started to believe he never would.

And still, somehow, he knew exactly when to come.

We’re not rushing anything. We’re learning how to live again- separately and together. We go for walks by the bay. He hums Baby Blue under his breath when he thinks I’m not listening. I’ve started writing music again. He’s helping a friend open a new record store.

Some nights, I still wake up from the memories-aching, sweating, shaking but he’s always there. Always whispering: You’re safe now. You’re safe.

My scars are still healing. Some never will. But I’ve stopped hiding them. Abbey says they’re the proof I lived. Chase says they’re the chapters I survived. Luke says they’re beautiful.

I think they’re mine - and I think I’m finally okay with that.

This isn’t the end of the story. It’s just the beginning of the chapter where I finally stop surviving and start living.

Imperfect. Unapologetic. Whole.

– Eleanor