"Being a chosen girl

doesn't buy a burger."

That sentence

stops the story

for exactly one breath

before it continues.

Not a complaint.

Not self-pity.

Not even bitterness.

Just the math.

The math of staying alive

is the coldest character

in this chapter.

It doesn't care

about green eyes

or the look before he came

or the way she dressed for the first time

toward something

instead of against it.

It only knows

what it costs

to eat.

And she knew it

before she crossed

into the blind spot

of his mirror.

That is what makes

the last line

the most honest sentence

in the story.

Not a justification.

A ledger.

— AËLA