We were always different from other relationships. We were “cute”, we were the ones who were most likely to be all over each other at a party, or end up kissing in the halls. But there was more to it, we were not just another steady teenage couple. I remember walking by myself through the wood lot on the south side of town, and realizing just how good my life was. That day I went to sleep with a smile on my face and thoughts of you in my head. The next day, Fate finally showed its hand, and everything changed.

From your house, I run to the same wood lot I walked through the day before it happened. I come to a stop, unable to go any further. As I look around, I realize how different things are. The trees seem dark and forbidding, their branches reaching out to clutch at my flesh, the pathway a dark maw waiting for me to walk down into its gullet. The tears still fresh on my face, I slowly begin to stumble deeper into the woods.

When I woke up, I knew already that something was wrong. The light seemed grayer and the texture of the world undefined. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes when you called, and told me to meet you as soon as I could. Hearing the thick dread in your voice, I felt a sharp pang of despair. Later, I held you as you cried, as you cursed your father and eventually fell asleep on my chest, but it was when you called me that I felt a part of me die.

I find myself at the top of the ravine, looking down at the sunset over the lake, the water aglow with orange fire. I watch the birds fight over scraps, a squirrel collect nuts, a dog catch a ball, but I see none of it. I hear the waves, the people and the wind, but I hear nothing. I feel the world slowly slide forward, and I let myself go as I tumble forward, accepting what will come. 

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