"Give me ten days, and I can give you ten reasons not to die." Evan paused. "And if I can't change your mind by then, you can go jump off that cliff."

It was pity that first made Dannie speak to him. She had known Ryan since she was a kid, but he had always been the popular Golden Boy, and she had always been the tomboy that didn’t mind not having any friends. It was odd, she had thought, that all the popular kids who had once kissed the ground he walked on, didn’t so much spared him a glance anymore, and it was this that made her sit with him that one faithful day and begin something that would only end up causing her pain.

Kaía was never a real person. She was an idea that someone had dreamt up, that many people had dreamt up, and the people who dreamt her had put so much soul into 'her', whatever she was, that she was somehow given a soul. And so Kaía was a soul without a body, a ghost, you could say, and as long as those people believed in her, she would be almost as good as alive. But she wasn't alive. She would never be alive, and nothing her worshipers could do would change that. Nothing.

Different people have different wishes. Yet, there is sometimes one wish that truly sums up all.

I looked out to the ocean and at all its beauty, going on endlessly. It was so majestic, like a living force that you simply had to respect. At that very second, I stubbed my pinky toe, totally and completely destroying the sentimental moment. I grumbled and looked down through the clear shallow water to find the murderer of my toe's future. Instead I found myself fixated on a spiraling seashell, with a disorientating array of color and patterns. Before the next foamy wave could wash it away, I snatched it from the sand. The unique beauty took my breath away, just like the sea had. I wanted it for myself; to make this wonder of the world mine, and mine alone. Someone called my name, and I turned to see Lilian waving to get my attention. It was time to head back. I turned to look at the sea one more time, and then at the shell, and I decided that even abiotic wonders of the world deserve to be left together. This is the story of Lilian and Matthews. And how I intercepted their love.