Back from the Other Side

Hello Readers: I hope you enjoy this original story I've written - AI generated image and outline - inspired by my favorite Adele love song: Hello (From the Other Side). Your honest comments are welcome.

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When the uprising broke out in 2027, Helen and Jose never dreamed they'd end up on different sides of the issue.

The two years leading up to that awful day when the world fell at their feet, they had been living together in perfect accord, and shared the same viewpoint about the need for social change.

Not just change and a better way of living for their own people and those who spoke and looked like them. But for people all across the globe - those who were determined to live in peace, even if it took an uprising to make it happen.

Both were activists, and had met during a civil rights rally, and at the time, were in agreement on their views about the government and the need for a new way of oversight.

Of course, that was 5 years ago, when Helen was still Helena, and hadn't yet bought into the foolish belief that she could change things from the inside.

She had only the best intentions at heart, when she accepted the corrupt Administration's offer, and became a token representative of their diversity and inclusion.

Long before the subtle changes to her appearance and starting to refer to herself as Helen, Jose had been against her plan to go into politics, and try to make the world a better place to live.

They argued and constantly disagreed over what he considered to be naivety on her part. As much as he loved and wanted to be with Helena, Jose couldn't stomach the thought of marrying a politician.

When her political career started, their relationship ended.

It was abundantly clear that the life they had once built together had fallen apart and broken.

That realization had been the turning point for Helena.

The way she chose to cope with losing the love of her life, was to throw herself into work and advocating for real change, on issues ranging from immigration, medical care, and higher education.

For the first couple of years following their breakup, she had called him periodically, hoping to reach out to him, but to no avail. He never even responded.

She was sorry for what she had given up, even before discovering just how much she'd regret her decision.

Ultimately, it became abundantly clear that the life they had once built together had fallen apart and broken for good.

That realization had been the turning point for Helena.

She chose to cope with losing the love of her life, by throwing herself into work; advocating for real change, and getting into the weeds on issues ranging from immigration, medical, affordable housing and eliminating hunger.

But instead of the good she had hoped to accomplish, it wasn't long before she found herself just as much a part of the problem as the rest of the corrupt politicians.

All the necessary brown nosing and back office deals, just to curry favor with the right people, made it impossible to lie down with dogs and not get up with fleas.

Jose watched his Helena change right before his eyes, as she allowed herself to publicly become the pseudo-ethnic face of a disingenuous political party.

Donning blue contact lens' and bleaching her once beautiful dark hair to blonde, Helena Ortiz gradually devolved into simply "Helen O", as she eventually became known in the media.

Naturally, there was much buzz and controversy surrounding the obvious change. But with the party's help, the matter of Helen's noticeable lack of ethnicity became just another gaslighted issue for them to get away with.

At first, she felt ashamed and also a bit guilty about what she was doing, and what she was turning into. 

Sometimes she even wondered what Jose must be thinking; realizing he must be watching and following her career closely.

She could barely look herself in the mirror without turning away, and she had no doubt that Jose disapproved.

She longed to meet and go over everything, in hopes of them finding a way back to one another, but she knew it wasn't in the cards for them.

While time is supposed to heal all wounds, time hadn't done much healing for either of them. 

If it had, she wouldn't have found herself five years later, making such a difficult phone call, while her nervous heart beat out of her chest.

Moving and settling into her new home and life as a California senator had begun to stir up all sorts of feelings about Jose.

She found herself dreaming about who they used to be when they were younger. Freer. They had lived on nothing but pure love and a shared ideology.

Though she never married or settled down with anyone in all that time, she had finally managed to resist the urge to try and contact Jose during the past few years.

A few mutual acquaintances she still kept in contact with, made a point of informing her of his whereabouts. 

A Hello from the Other Side

"He's still single and still organizing," someone had mentioned, just a few weeks earlier. "Still marching. Still believes in what the two of you used to talk about."

The two of you.

Those were the words that gave her the courage to dial.

She stared at his name, still saved in her contacts after all these years. Jose Alvarez. The name she had once imagined signing beside her own.

It rang four times.

Five.

She almost hung up.

Then - 

"Hello?"

His voice. Deeper. Rougher. But unmistakably his.

For a moment, she couldn't breathe.

"Hi…" Her voice trembled despite years of polished speeches and televised debates. "It's me."

Silence.

A long, weighted silence that carried ten years inside it.

"…Helena?"

Her eyes filled at the sound of her real name on his lips.

"Yes."

Another pause. She imagined him standing somewhere modest and real - maybe in the community center he helped rebuild after the first riots. Maybe in the small apartment he'd chosen instead of campaign housing and donor-funded lofts.

"I didn't think you'd ever call again," he said quietly.

"I almost didn't." She swallowed. "I didn't know if you'd answer."

"I almost didn't."

They both exhaled at the same time. A fragile, shared rhythm.

"I've been watching," he admitted. "I see you on the news. California looks… different on you."

She gave a broken laugh. "Different good or different bad?"

"Different," he said honestly. "Not the girl who stood on a milk crate with a megaphone and told a crowd the world fell at our feet if we were brave enough to lift it."

Her chest tightened. "I believed that."

"I know you did."

"I still do," she whispered. "I just… I thought maybe I could change things from inside."

"And did you?"

The question wasn't cruel. Just steady.

She looked around her sleek office, at framed photos of handshakes and staged smiles.

"No," she said. "Not the way we dreamed."

Silence again - but softer this time.

"I'm tired, Jose," she confessed. "Tired of pretending this is what I wanted. Tired of hearing myself called 'Helen O' like Helena Ortiz never existed. I barely recognize the woman in the mirror anymore."

"I recognize her," he said gently.

Her breathing changed. "You do?"

"I see the girl who used to argue with me until sunrise. The one who believed people deserved dignity. That's still you. Even if you buried her under campaign ads and blue contact lenses."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

"I hurt you," she said. "I chose ambition over us. Over what we built."

"You chose what you thought was right," he corrected. "I was angry because I was afraid. Afraid the system would swallow you whole."

"It did," she admitted.

Another pause.

"So why call now?" he asked.

She steadied herself. This was the part that had been pounding in her chest for days.

"Because I don't want another ten years to go by wondering what would've happened if I'd been brave enough to say this." Her voice cracked. "I never stopped loving you. Not once. I tried to replace you with purpose, with work, with titles - but none of it filled the space you left."

On the other end, she heard him inhale sharply.

"Helena…"

"I'm not asking you to forget everything," she rushed on. "And I'm not asking you to trust me blindly. I just - I needed you to know that the girl you loved? She's still here. And she misses you. She misses us. When we were freer. When we believed in change without becoming the very thing we fought."

The line was quiet for so long she thought the call had dropped.

Then - 

"I never stopped loving you either," he said, his voice thick.

Her hand flew to her mouth.

"But love wasn't enough back then," he continued. "We wanted the same world, but we chose different roads to get there. And those roads tore us apart."

"I know."

"The uprising… it proved something," he said slowly. "Change doesn't come clean. It doesn't come the way we imagined at twenty-five. But it still needs people willing to stand up."

She closed her eyes. "Are you saying there's still room for me to stand beside you?"

"I'm saying," he replied carefully, "if you're ready to be Helena again - not the senator, not the symbol - just you… then maybe we can start with coffee. No speeches. No cameras. Just two people who once believed the world could be better."

A soft, disbelieving laugh escaped her through tears.

"Coffee," she repeated.

"It's a beginning," he said.

"And if we realize we're too different now?"

"Then at least we'll know," he answered. "Instead of wondering for the rest of our lives."

She looked out at the California sunset spilling gold across the skyline. What she saw and felt wasn't a backdrop. It was possibility.

"Jose?"

"Yeah?"

"Hello… from the other side."

He let out a quiet, emotional chuckle. "It doesn't have to be separate sides anymore."

Her heart steadied.

"Then I'll see you soon," she said.

"Helena?"

"Yes?"

"Come as yourself."

The line clicked off.

She stared at her reflection in the darkened window - blue lenses, blonde hair, a polished mask.

Slowly, deliberately, she reached up, removed the contacts, and looked into her eyes.

For the first time in a decade, Helena Ortiz looked back at her.

She smiled, and this time, she didn't look away.

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THANKS FOR READING

Enjoy listening to the song that inspired this story: