An Interesting Love

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All I do is sit by a brook, watching the clear water fall over smooth rocks, wishing I could be as thoughtless as a rock. That's what is so horrible about what I have done: I did it with intent. Henry made the sky turn dark, but the moon is huge and allows me to see a few feet ahead of myself. The slight breeze hasn't left the forest since we've been here, and it still gives me comfort in the way it rustles the leaves and moves my hair. I should feel at peace with these seemingly perfect environmental conditions, but I am in complete distress. I killed a man. I took a life. Henry doesn't want to be with me, and he shouldn't want to. I don't even know if he's left our world or if he's still in that bed waiting for me to come back. So much has happened and it feels like only a day has passed since I met Henry, despite all we've done. I never wanted to leave his side, but I felt like I had no choice. Michael would have ripped us apart, and I tried to reason with him but he refused to listen to me. And he hit me! He stabbed me! He was a violent man and would have treated any other woman as horribly as he did me. I couldn't let him go on like that. But should I have? I suffocated him because I was angry. I was impulsive. I know I should have just come back to Henry and tried to figure something else out, but at the moment that felt impossible. Michael could have broken our world the moment I came back to it. I couldn't let that happen.

Henry's POV

Charlotte really just walked away from me. I want to talk this out, not separate, but as she moves further away, I feel a bit more at peace. I feel more space to experience my emotions. Maybe we should be separated for a little while. I need to think. She killed a man. She killed her husband. Sure, he wasn't really her husband and they didn't love each other, but on paper, they were man and wife. She killed someone she was attached to in some way. She killed someone who just wanted to love her. But she didn't want to love him. She wanted to love me and protect what we've made. She killed him to protect us. And he hit her and stabbed her, how could she not get so angry as to use her powers against him. I didn't even know she could use her powers to kill people, though. I doubt she knew either.

It is too frustrating to continue thinking here. I share this bed with Charlotte, I share this forest with her. I only feel love for her here. I need to move away from this. I get up and start walking toward the opening to the other world. It is at the same park entrance we walked into. The sign is still there, untouched. No other foot has stepped in here; every blade of grass is in place. I walk on the stone path and pass the sign. I feel a slight pressure in my head as I step onto a bustling street. I kept it so quiet in there, this is a big change. I don't know how much time passed when Charlotte was here, but I plan to walk to my apartment and spend the day there. I buy a sandwich from a street vendor and watch a man play the guitar on the corner. While I'm standing there, Sawyer appears. He comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder.

"Hey man, where were you this morning? We were supposed to get breakfast," he says.

"Oh, sorry, I overslept. I forgot to text you about it, my bad," I say.

"That's alright, Jude came and kept me company. I was just heading to your place to check on you, is that where you're going?"

"Yeah, I think I might be a little sick, I'm just exhausted. I need to spend the day at home, I don't think I can do much else right now," I say.

"Oh, I'm sorry, man. I'll walk you there, make sure you're okay," he replies.

I thank him and nod my head in the direction of my apartment when we're done listening to the performer. He sang Michelle by the Beatles, and now it's going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. While we walk, Sawyer tells me about the breakfast he had. They put some "foreign spices" on his eggs and he loved it. They were red. I think he's just talking about paprika, but whatever. I tell him about this cool park I found where there were barely any people, and where the waving of tree branches was the only sound you could hear at its center. He suggested that we go there together sometime, and I just nodded my head in approval. I would like to take Sawyer there someday— he's my best friend.