This Isn't the End

The End of Everything

"Goodbye, Stephen."

I turned and walked away, the words he snarled burned in my memory. I grabbed my car keys.

"You just love a sob story, don't you? Is that what I am to you now?! Poor Stephen Strange, charity case. He finally needs me. Another dreg of humanity for me to work on."

I slammed the door behind me, not even bothering to look back at the scraggly man that had been my boyfriend for a time. It hurt too much.

"Send him back and patch him back into the world, heart just humming. You care SO MUCH! Don't you???!" He had roared at me.

How could he be so selfish?! I couldn't help but bitterly think as the tears finally came after I slammed my car door shut and drove away. I was always by his side when no one was...when the car accident robbed him of the use of his hands. Making sure he was fed, shaving his face. Always looking out for him.

Well now, he was on his own. There was no way in hell I would go back and help him. The words he spoke to me hurt deeply. My heart was too broken. Maybe leaving him alone was the right thing to do. It had to be. It was time to move on.

***
The first day without him I could hardly speak to anyone about what happened. Then it got a little easier as the weeks went by.

Work was the same as always in the past year. Well, not really. Not without...him. I never really got over what he said to me. But sometimes I like to think back on how things were before the car accident.

I've been talking to Nic a lot, and making sure that lives are saved. But everyone pales in comparison to what Stephen accomplished before the accident. I keep thinking of what might have been if he hadn't...no.

Don't think about him. Move on. He was selfish and he doesn't deserve you. I kept thinking.

Speaking of which, I received two emails from him. I didn't bother. What would I say to the man who thought I loved a sob story?

Whenever I saw an email from him, I felt like I wanted to cuss him out in response, or just say hey, but I felt I couldn't. After all, I did leave him to his fate.

One day, in the nurse's station, I was doing my usual rounds, when suddenly...

"CHRISTINE!"

A man with weird clothes stumbled into the station, clutching his chest in pain. My eyes widened and the reports in my hands dropped as he got closer. It couldn't be...?!

"Stephen?!" I cried out in alarm as rushed to his aid. "Oh my God! Wha-?"

He was different now. His hair was cut a bit, and his beard was now a goatee. I hadn't seen him in a year and I thought I was hallucinating when he sent me those two emails.

"You need to get me on an operating theater now. Just you." Stephen grunted.

"Wha-?"

"Now! I don't have any time!" Stephen half-pleaded and half urged.

Without a second to spare, I did as he said.