· · · EXCERPT · · ·

“So how are you?  How are you really?”

Amber thought about it for a second.  Here’s a new thing she’s trying to do:  Just be honest.  Just be real.

She lets out a brittle breath and just exposed herself real.  And with a condescending snicker, she admits, “I’m…you know.  It hurts.  It ing hurts.”  She didn’t hide it any longer from Cara as Amber met her eyes, “I didn’t think it was possible for a human being to actually feel this much…pain.  But…”

“But at least now you know what you’re made out of.”

Amber chuckles at Cara’s unfailing genius because yes at least she now understands that truth about her capacity to feel so strongly for another person.

“Amber…” Cara was exposing her rare form as well, “At least you know for sure without any doubt in your mind that what you and Krystal had was real…because falling out of that love is as painful as it was beautiful falling in.”

Amber swallows it in.  She gulps down the great tragedy of her youth and embeds the ethereal feeling of that love in her soul.

Yeah…it was real.

Because it was beautiful as it is painful.

— GROWING PAINS —

This is a Kryber Idol AU.

NOT A GENDBEND.

A short story.

And straight up angst.

This story has been in my archives for a while.  I’m still trying to focus on my other story (Pieces of You and I) but I find myself needing another outlet that is just completely Kryber.  Hopefully, this will help me with my slight case of writer’s block when writing my other story.

On another note, this story is ANGST.  The song “Growing Pains” by SJ D&E is the skeleton underneath the meat and skin of this story.  It will have that romantic Kryber moments we’re all too familiar with woven throughout but the mood will remain kind of depressing.  So don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Read at your own risk.  Nevertheless, I still hope you’ll find something to like/love about this little short story.

All the love,

Z