The truth is, I do miss who we used to be, who I thought we were. And we’re different people now. Or, at least, I am. After everything I’ve been through with Jack and busting my ass to better my art and follow my dreams, healing from the underhanded shit she did, I’m different. Maybe she is, too. But I think it can be okay for us to just be. We don’t have to be friends, but we don’t have to be enemies, either.

I smile because it feels good to be able to finally let go of the anger I’ve held inside. It doesn’t do me any good to carry around all that toxicity because it’s clear that she’s working through her own demons. We’re all doing the same thing—even Jack.

This isn’t the end. It’s one ending.

Suddenly, the last line of “Hansel and Gretel” fills my head:

My tale is done, there runs a mouse; whosoever catches it may make himself a big fur cap out of it.

It finally hits me: Each story is a mouse, a small creature in a much larger world, and if I catch that mouse, I can do with it what I want. I can view it as a meaningless rodent, or I can make beautiful meaning from a seemingly small moment, to interpret us how I see fit.

I can take this interaction with Leila and heal. It’s not an ending but a path forward for me, having let go of the pain.

I can live without Jack just fine. I’ve been doing it for weeks, sans the “fine” part. Do I want to? No. But I don’t have a choice, and while that’s painful, I will live beyond this realization. But the Knight? He doesn’t have to live without his Prince. He can live out the happy ending that I can’t. I can’t believe something so obvious and easy was staring me in the face the whole time.

I get to create the ending I want for my story.

“You have that look on your face,” she says. “Like you got an idea. Or clarity.”

A comforting nod confirms her suspicions. “I’ll see you around, Ley?” I let the question linger for the sake of possibility.

She swings her legs off the windowsill and looks like she wants in on my idea the way we used to share that kind of stuff with each other once upon a time, but she stops herself from asking and lifts her legs back up onto the sill.

“See ya, Chase.”

The Prince Who Captured Lightning

PART IV

When the Witch appeared to the Knight in his dungeon cell, the Knight willingly offered his whole heart to the Witch in order to save the Prince, but she declined.