It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (z-lib.org).epub

“When I was ten, my mother got me a subscription to a website called Seeds
Anonymous,” I said. “Every month I would get an unmarked package of seeds in
the mail with instructions on how to plant them and care for them. I wouldn’t know
what I was growing until it came up out of the ground. Every day after school I’d
run straight to the backyard to see the progress. It gave me something to look forward
to. Growing things felt like a reward.”
I could feel Atlas staring at me when he asked, “A reward for what?”
I shrugged. “For loving my plants the right way. Plants reward you based on the
amount of love you show them. If you’re cruel to them or neglect them, they give you
nothing. But if you care for them and love them the right way, they reward you with
gifts in the form of vegetables or fruits or flowers.” I looked down at the weed I was
tearing apart in my hands and there was barely an inch left of it. I wadded it up
between my fingers and flicked it.
I didn’t want to look over at Atlas because I could still feel him staring, so
instead, I just stared out over my mulch-covered garden.
“We’re just alike,” he said.
My eyes flicked to his. “Me and you?”
He shook his head. “No. Plants and humans. Plants need to be loved the right
way in order to survive. So do humans. We rely on our parents from birth to love us
enough to keep us alive. And if our parents show us the right kind of love, we turn
out as better humans overall. But if we’re neglected . . .”
His voice grew quiet. Almost sad. He wiped his hands on his knees, trying to get
some of the dirt off. “If we’re neglected, we end up homeless and incapable of
anything meaningful.”
His words made my heart feel like the mulch he had just laid out. I didn’t even
know what to say to that. Does he really think that about himself?
He acted like he was about to get up, but before he did I said his name.
He sat back down in the grass. I pointed at the row of trees that lined the fence to
the left of the yard. “You see that tree over there?” In the middle of the row of trees
was an oak tree that stood taller than all the rest of the trees.
Atlas glanced over at it and dragged his eyes all the way up to the top of the tree.
“It grew on its own,” I said. “Most plants do need a lot of care to survive. But
some things, like trees, are strong enough to do it by just relying on themselves and
nobody else.”
I had no idea if he knew what I was trying to say without me coming out and
saying it. But I just wanted him to know that I thought he was strong enough to