𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢. [𝐴𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑛/𝐹𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠]

♫𝐺𝑜𝑛𝑒♫

Though, I sat up and pushed myself off the wall I was previously against, and stormed over to my phone that rested on my nightstand. It was nothing but small notes from random numbers, and fiery rage licked up from deep within my stomach, making me want to hurt, hurt, hurt, just like my father had. But my furious swiping of messages halted when I viewed one message in which I had received. It was from my boyfriend of two years, Aidan.

His gut wrenching text had stated, "Hey. I'm coming over to your place. We need to talk". The beating of my heart halted to a painful stop, and my crying was silenced. I had not known what he wanted to converse about, but when he usually sent me requests to talk, he would send an emoji or a smiley face along with it. But now, it was short and blunt. From the get-go, I already knew he was upset.

-

My body was placed in the same area that I've been in for weeks: my legs were brought up to my chest while I hid my sullen, exhausted face. The familiar feeling of the textured wall scraped at my back with sharp needle-like bumps, and I could almost see the red lines that were painted on my back in my peripheral vision. Though, the pain was somewhat of a distraction, a numbing treatment to make me lose thoughts of my dad. Being pressed up against the same wall for days almost led me into finding sentimental comfort in the spot. Like it was my new life now: my body curled up in silence in the dark, with no one to talk to. It was almost pleasant. The silence was addictive, and I craved it more and more, until I heard a sharp ring of the doorbell echo through the quiet house.

I slowly brought my head up from resting on my knees, and I weakly got up to view myself in the restroom, not minding if Aidan had to wait a minute or a century. Lights flickered on, and I almost gasped in horror at the sight of my reflection. Liquids gathered at the corners of my lips and under my nose, causing them to dry and become an encrusted state. My eyes were bloodshot while dark circles were painted underneath them. Tears made my cheeks glitter with beautiful sorrow, and they began to spill once again as I viewed the sight of the stranger that stared at me in the mirror. If one could die from crying so much, I would've been long gone by now. Maybe I wanted to be gone.

Water ran through my fingers when I turned on the sink and hastily washed my face with care, and I tugged on my black hoodie once I was finished. A ding rang from my phone, and it was another message from Aidan: "Open up". With a shaky breath, I shoved my way out of my bathroom to storm downstairs. I don't remember the last time I took a shower.

A shadow moved from behind the obscure glass of my front door when I reluctantly approached it, and I then realized that I was terrified. Sure, Aidan was an amazing partner and lover, but when he was vexed, he was intimidating. Not once had he snapped at me, but in my heart, I felt like he was planning to in the future. A shaking hand reached up to the door knob, and a faint click of the door opening ajar led to reveal a brunette leaning up against the outside wall. A small frown was set upon his face, and his dark eyebrows were fixed in a slight scowl.

Cold shivers rushed through my blood in pulses, and I gestured a hand to let him inside, in which he did with no hesitation. Usually when I invited him to my home or vice versa, the rooms were lit with joy and life, and all of our faces were beaming with welcoming happiness. Aidan was a favorite of the family and was well known, and he loved coming over. Which was why he did it so often, because he was part of my family. My heart. But now, neither of us were smiling. The rooms were a dull blue, almost as if it were reflecting our very souls at this moment. Saddened. Grieving. But he was not aware of all that had happened.

His green stare slid to my tired one, and he queried, "Where have you been? I haven't seen or heard from you in two months. I even came over to check up on you multiple times and no one answered." The way he spoke led me to believe that he came up with his own absurd answer, but I tried turning down the aching to happen argument for both of our sakes.