She told him her dreams, of college, travel, and beyond. But he caught them in his fist, and plucked off the wings. “Your dreams are right here,” he said. “Look.”

They crawled in his palm like little white bugs.

“I see,” she said, then carefully placed them in her pocket.

Stephanie is a writer from Perth, Western Australia who likes to write about life and love in the hopes it might help her understand them better.