Inevitable

Chapter 8

The immediate family of Baby Trevor held a private funeral. Liz accepted no words and she did not say a single thing. She also requested no one to come to the house, not even Krista. Matthew realized that she was not acting like her normal self. Ever since the baby passed away, Liz has been working, but not coming home until late at night. Matthew has his suspicions, but he trusts her.

About a month later, Matthew is up late one night waiting for Liz to return from work. Detective Simon texted him and told him that she left the police department around nine o'clock. It is now one AM and Matthew hasn't heard from Liz. Suddenly, he hears the car door and a loud bang on the front door. The door roughly swings open and there was Liz.

"Fuck," she mumbles, tripping over her own foot.

"Liz, are you ok?" Matt asks.

"Wha-? Yeah, I'm fine."

Matthew gets up and walks over to her, "You drove home? Liz, you can barely walk."

"No, Detective...Detective Simon drove me home," she angrily says as she falls into Matthew's arms.

"Liz, what has gotten into you? You've been coming home like this every night for the past two weeks."

"Nothing, can't I just have some fun?"

Matthew tries to bring Liz into the bedroom to lay down. When she lays down on the bed, Matthew gets changed into his pajamas. He lies down next to her when Liz climbs up on top of him and starts to kiss him.

Matthew pushes her off, "Liz, what are you doing?"

"Oh come on, kiss me!"

"No, not when you're like this," he says as he pushes her off of him.

"Why do you want to be with me?" she asks.

"Because I love you."

"No you don't. How can you love me? I'm a mess."

"No you're not, you're just upset. We all are."

"No. I can't give you children. I can't do this anymore. I don't want to get married, Matt."

"What are you saying, Liz?"

"I don't want to do this anymore."

"Do what?"

"Be with you. I can't be around you without thinking about him."

"Alright Liz, you're highly intoxicated right now. Just go to bed and we'll talk in the morning."

"No, you don't get to tell me what to do anymore," Liz says as she gets up and walks into the bathroom, slamming the door.

"What the hell?" Matt whispered to himself.

A couple minutes go by and Liz is still located in the bathroom. Matthew is waiting for her to come out, but she never does. All of a sudden, Liz screams, "Ow!" from the bathroom. Matthew gets up and runs into the bathroom. When he opens the door, he sees Liz's left wrist sliced up and a razor in her right hand.

"Liz, what the hell?" he asks running to her.

"I told you, Matt. I'm done!" she shouts.

"Liz, you need stitches."

"Leave me alone, Matt!"

"No, this is something I know how to do," Matt says as he leads her into the kitchen. She sits up on the island and Matthew gently stitches her up. When they're done, Matthew and Liz lay on the couch together until they both fall asleep.

In the morning, Liz wakes up with a major hangover. She looks over in the kitchen and sees Matthew cooking breakfast like he always does. She walks over to him and he greets her with a kiss.

"Hey babe," he says.

"Hey..." she responds, feeling her head.

"Are you alright?"

"My head is killing me."

"Well you had a rough night."

Liz looks down at her wrist and sees that it is all wrapped up, "What happened to my wrist?"

"You had a little accident, but it's all better now."

"Matty, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not. You don't deserve me."

"Don't say that, I love you."

"Matty, I think we need a break."

The second those words came out of Liz's mouth, Matthew drops his spatula, turns off the range, and looks at her. He thought that she was only saying those things because she was drunk. But now, it's for real.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I can't do this right now. When I look at you, I see Trevor. I can't look at you in the same way anymore. I'm not feeling it anymore. Right now, I just want to stay focused in my career."

Listening to every word, Matthew speaks up, "You can't be serious."

Tears begin to flow from Liz's eyes, "But I am. Listen, Matty, I feel so vulnerable right now and I want to put all my attention to my career."

"Liz, I'm not leaving you. Not after last night! You came home intoxicated, hardly able to walk!"

"Matty-" Liz tries to stop him.

"You attempted suicide, Elizabeth! What happens when I leave?!"

"Please, stop-"

"Do you think this has been easy for me?! It's not, Elizabeth!"

"I know, but-"

"I've held myself together for you! Because I love you! Do you think it's fair to me to see you come home hours late every night drunk off your ass?"

"No-"

"It's not! But I do it because I love you!"

"I know you do. I just don't have the same feelings anymore," she responds, choking at her tears.

"How?! How do you say that after all we have been through?!"

"Ma-"

"No, forget it. I'll make sure I'm gone before you come back from work."

A couple hours later, Liz comes home from work around nine-thirty at night. When she opens the door, she sees all of Matthew's stuff gone. She walks into the kitchen and finds a note on the island. It read:

Elizabeth,

It is hard for me to write this. I just wanted to tell you that I've always love you, from the first moment I laid eyes on you. It was the first day of freshmen year in college. You were wearing that purple, strapless shirt with dark blue jeans. You had a grey leather jacket on as well. Your hair was pulled up in a bun. You looked so beautiful. We ate lunch together and I spilled my drink all over you. I was so nervous because I had a major crush on you. Then when we met up again and we were making out in the examination room at the zoo. I will never forget that because I fell in love with you all over again. When I got sick, you stayed with me, holding my hand through it all. You never left. Then Trevor came and as I stood there and watched you hold him for the first time, I felt something I've never felt before. I'm not so sure if there's a word for it, but I felt family. Ya know? Ever since Trevor passed, you became a completely different person. But I still love you. Whenever you came home like the way you did last night, I would remember the first day of freshmen year, then the day in the examination room, and then when you held Trevor. You were my first love, Liz. And you will be my last. Please, Liz, stay SAFE.

Love, Matthew Neumann

After reading the letter, Liz slid down her kitchen wall and cried into her knees. She took out her phone and called Krista. Krista offered to come over, but Liz rejected. Instead, they talked on the phone all night long as if they were teenagers again.