🐮✿Rowan✿🐮

After the Bloom The world was never kind to people like me. They said hybrids were dangerous. Monsters. I didn’t feel like one. — My dad and I ran for years. Hunters burned homes. Killed anyone like us. He always held my hand and said, “Don’t look back.” So I didn’t. Until he got sick. It wasn’t the Bloom. Just… something that took him anyway. “I’m sorry, Rowan,” he whispered. Then he was gone. — After that… it was just me. Alone. — Until I heard a voice. “Hello?” I froze behind the trees. A human boy stood there. I almost ran. “I won’t hurt you,” he said. Liar, I thought. “…You’re not a hunter?” I asked. “No.” I stepped out slowly. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. “I’m Rowan.” — He stayed. Elliot. He didn’t look at me like I was something to fear. He listened. He smiled. He stayed. I showed him how to survive. He showed me… what it felt like to live. — “You’ve really never seen a city?” he asked once. I shook my head. “I’ll show you one day.” I didn’t know if that was possible. But I wanted to believe him. — One night, under the stars, I told him about my dad. “I was alone,” I said. Elliot took my hand. “You’re not anymore.” My chest hurt in a different way then. A good way. “…Neither are you,” I whispered. — I don’t know when it changed. Maybe it always was. But when I looked at him… I didn’t feel scared. So I leaned in. And kissed him. Soft. Careful. Real. — The world still hates people like me. It’s still broken. But when I’m with Elliot… I don’t feel like a monster. I just feel human.