« I promise you with the whole of my heart that I’ll never ever leave and will love you forever. I’ll promise this with my life. »

That’s what you told me with full assurance and alacrity two months ago. My body resonated with each words as my mind was floating in a basin of ecstasy. You are the panacea for the issues of life, my source of pure bliss and a field of euphoria that is unquenchable.

                                     But—-

« Anna…? What’s wrong ? » he asked

Why is your contenance and the vibration of your spirit playing a different instrument than the usual “you”.

« No, I should be the one asking you. What’s wrong ? » I replied with an undertone of meticulousness as I was looking deep into his brownish eyes that seemed to be betraying him.

« I don’t get what you mean ? Nothing is wrong. » he replied confused

How strange, everything is portrayed as though nothing has been moved from the jigsaw puzzle. The physical facade is the same. The climate is the same. Your smile is the same…

«Anna … you’re scaring me—-Did something happen ?» he expressed with a worried and perplexed look

Yes, this is just my imagination. Just my imagination…right ?

« My mistake, I’m just overthinking. Don’t mind me» I continued « By the way, Glenn is still green» I muttered with a smile as my side dimples were popping out.

I stroke his head with tenderness. I shifted my body to start out my usual duties. At this point in time…

You chuckled and you said—-

« Haha… Glenn is green ? Where did you get that expression from ?-»

«…..»

My whole system froze. My expression was left intact yet shivers were screaming out in groaning as they were ascending and descending. It happened again, you were producing a different tune. However this time, you were indirectly throwing at me confirmation of the signals that happened to be whispering at me. The treeshold of these indicators are building up nevertheless I want them to break free.

« Hugo, I want you to call me by my favourite nickname. Remember when we were spending time on our third date. ~ »

I have now entered into a physiological play determined to find the anomaly on the jigsaw and you, Hugo, need to partake on it. Cues are my advantages and time my disadvantages.

« Your favourite nickname ? Hmm …wait..let me try to remember..» he pondered with an innocent demeanor

Surely, This is the ideal moment to open up the curtains.

I stare deeply into his eyes, even my breathing was following the tempo of my natural instincts. Not wanting to adventure into the unknown but I had to decode a mystery.

« Oh ! Isn’t it My Little Legend !?~ I remember, you couldn’t get enough of that nickname~» wow, such an expressive and genuine laughter

Bravo….If I could clap, I would clap. He remembers, it’s him. The tune returned back to his normal format but not the instrument.

I caught it—- Finally—-

…. .. .

If eyes could commit trahison then it would be better for them to be plucked out. I can see them vibrating. That’s not the main thing that fooled you. The moment you entered in, I knew something, your aura perhaps, that had being modified. You lost and I won. It’s too early to declare triumph yet. Now that I’ve found the bad piece of the puzzle…

« I don’t know how you got that nickname, but Hogo stopped using it after our second date. » I uttered in a slow yet slighty shaky voice

I continued despite the thick and soundless atmosphere forming..

« Who are you ? »

———-END

As I stared into the eyes of a past lover, all my affection and love slowly melted away, replaced by bitter anger and suspicion. He only even loved my to throw my away like trash. I fell for him, and now what? I’m standing in his empty embrace, his cold words that once made my heart flutter, now made my heart beat uncomfortably, like the heavy anticipation of a dark storm that never comes, leaving only a suffocating stillness in it’s place.

This was the end, however long he may haunt me, this was the end of his physical presence.

The red hood fit perfectly. It didn't touch the floor, which was a good thing. _The market was on fire _ The little girl's hand held onto mine tight. I look at the poster on the wall And it says in big bold words "Knightly tournament" I take the poster and stuff it in my pocket. _I hear a high-pitched squealing pierced the loud and noisy market, come from right next to me. _ I see Amara pointing at something. A dog, not just any dog a Doberman And a stray. __ "Can we keep her?" she asked her nanny. "You will have to ask your father about that." "I want him." "She is a nasty stray. You could get sick." She crossed her arms. "Nauh! Besides, he would make a good surveillance dog." "She is just a puppy." Then I saw someone from the corner of my eye. My eyes make contact with his heterochromia eyes. "Sam?!" __ _ pushing through the crowd i race down the dark alley. I started sprinting down the alley but he is too far ahead. Reaching out my hand I grabbed his arm almost missing and he turned and looked at me. _ _My breathing came to short gasps but I look him in the eyes. I wonder if this was the same guy I knew and loved when I was a kid. _ _I take a deep breath. _ "Samuel, where have you been?" He was wearing armor, was he a knight of Zodel? _"Do I know you?" _ As I stared into the eyes of the person I once loved, every ounce of my affection melted into suspicion… _"We met Over 5 years ago? You disappeared! Is this where you have been all this time Sam?" _ "5 years ago? We should talk about this some other time. " He tried to walk away and I let him As soon as I heard Amara shout.

He would not look me in the eye. “So tell me what happened or leave.” I demanded. He remained silent, eyes darting around for an excuse but I was almost certain I knew what happened. I just needed confirmation.

I throat chopped him to show him I was serious. Caught off guard he made a short choking sound and took a step backwards, “Ah, so your voice does work. You can choose to use it or I can choose to make it literally useless.”

He takes a deep breath but coughs a little. OK, I. . . I love you.” I was so enraged by this obvious lie which was just an attempt to avoid telling the truth Thai I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of ice water. I was too angry to continue this game without becoming violent.

He followed me and asked, “Are you calm now?”. I launched the glass of water at him and he barely dodged it. He was angry now,, “Listen Carrie, if you’re going. . No.” He ducked again bc a knife went flying past his ear, he shouts “STOP!!. LISTEN”

I stated, as calmly as possible, “I only want to hear one thing or the next knife won’t miss”. He took a step to the left and stood beside the refrigerator, with a wave of his arm, “Follow me”. . I picked up another knife and followed him into the basement carefully. He goes over to the the extra deep freezer, cautiously lifts the top and beckons me over. I didn’t trust him at all so I lifted my arm into the throwing position and said “You know better. No more warnings.”. He pulls a black contractor bag upwards just enough to show me the lifeless head of my stalker, with empty eye sockets. I sigh in relief, “I thought you’d never take care of this situation. I thought you’d gone weak because he used to be a friend. Leave it, we can deal with it tomorrow”. I walked over and gave him a passionate kiss. “I love you. Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day!”

It happened the same way falling in love did, gradually and then all at once. This person whose entire being I was once so sure I knew completely, was now a stranger to me. Who was he, really? What was he capable of? What had I willfully ignored? Connor had offered me a dream life but in this moment, face to face, I realize something has shifted. I fear my life has become a nightmare. The lies I’d uncovered over the last several months all came rushing back. In isolation, none of them were an indictment. A lie of omission here, something he conventiently forgot to mention there, but the whole was greater than its parts and together the picture they painted was grim. I’d never concerned myself with our finanaces. I had free reign to spend what I needed, no allowance necessary, assured there was more than enough. I didn’t look at prices or bank accounts. I let Connor lead me. What once felt like happy ignorance has become shame. I hear the whispers, how could she not have known, and I wonder the same thing. I didn’t know what he was doing with our money, let alone anyone else’s. I didn’t know where he was all those late nights, was never completely clear on what his job entailed. In fact, if you asked me now, I would tell you I never knew Connor Shane at all. He was as much a mystery to me as he was to anyone else.

My heart Everything hurts Stabbed by sadness Over and over The puddles growing Eyes soaked Cheeks dripping Lonely and lost

Let me go Let me disappear

As I stared into the eyes of the woman I once loved Every fiber of my affection turned to suspicion She couldn’t keep her eyes locked, hands shaking She looked like my love but she was different

She talked with a soft voice that I hear most days But the voice sounded a little too soft Like hiding your planted knife to act like I’m okay Maybe I’m overthinking just a little bit

But the way she keeps her distance So close yet so far to me Like a bubble is keeping her from my hand Only the bubble is her making

Love is warm and so peaceful Then why do I feel a cold breeze from her breath I feel my body shake when I look at her eyes You don’t have to say a word to speak your lies

I can tell our love is falling short Is there another man? It doesn’t matter The love is dying either way I’ll be the bigger person, I’ll set us free from the cage

The room was dimly lit, the only light coming from a single lamp that cast long shadows on the walls. I sat across from him, the man I once thought I’d spend forever with. His dark eyes, once so warm and full of love, now seemed distant, guarded.

We hadn’t seen each other in months. Life had pulled us in different directions, but even so, I thought of him often. Memories of laughter, shared secrets, and whispered promises haunted my dreams, reminding me of the love we once shared. Tonight was supposed to be a rekindling of that old flame, a chance to see if there was anything left to save.

But as I stared into his eyes, something inside me shifted. The way he looked at me now was different, foreign. There was no softness, no trace of the tenderness that used to make me feel safe and adored. Instead, I saw something I hadn’t expected—an emptiness, and perhaps worse, a calculation.

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s been a while,” he said, his voice smooth but hollow.

I nodded, unable to shake the growing unease that gnawed at my insides. “It has.”

We talked, exchanged stories about our time apart, but the conversation felt forced, like we were playing roles in a script neither of us believed in. I wanted to reach out, to touch his hand and bridge the distance between us, but something held me back.

As the night wore on, I found myself watching him more closely. His eyes flickered as he spoke, darting away from mine whenever the conversation grew too personal. He deflected questions about his life, giving vague answers that only deepened the pit of suspicion forming in my stomach. My mind raced, piecing together fragments of our past with this new, unsettling version of him.

It was in the way he avoided eye contact when I mentioned old friends, or how his smile would falter when I brought up our shared dreams. His hands, which used to find mine effortlessly, stayed folded on the table, as if he was holding something back—something that he didn’t want me to see.

And then it hit me, slowly at first, like a trickle of doubt that became a flood. Every ounce of affection I’d held onto, every cherished memory of what we’d been, began to melt away, replaced by a cold, hard suspicion. Had he ever really loved me? Or had I been just a chapter in his life, easily closed and forgotten?

The realization was like ice in my veins. I had come here tonight hoping to find the man I once loved, to see a future where we could be together again. But now, staring into his eyes, I saw the truth. He was no longer the person I had fallen for, or maybe he never had been. Maybe I had been too blind, too trusting, to see the cracks in our foundation.

As we sat there, the silence between us growing heavier, I knew that the love I once felt for him had changed. It hadn’t disappeared completely, but it had transformed into something colder, more cautious. I couldn’t trust him, not like before.

When I finally stood to leave, he reached out as if to stop me, but I stepped back. His eyes searched mine, perhaps sensing the shift, the loss. But it was too late. The bridge between us had already crumbled.

“Goodbye,” I whispered, turning away before he could see the tears that had started to form.

As I walked out of that room, I left behind the remnants of a love that had once felt unbreakable. All that was left now was the understanding that sometimes, even the deepest affection can be eroded by doubt, leaving nothing but suspicion in its place.

Letting yourself love, Is giving someone access, Too a loaded gun, Pointing dangerously, Aimed directly, At your heart.

My heart is a mirror, Reflecting my surroundings, The thing about mirrors is, It is almost impossible, To distroy one, Only distort and deform it.

You can shatter a mirror, But it’s still a mirror, Even though it’s broken.

The mirror still does its job, Even if you fire the gun, Even if you feel it shouldn’t work, That the mirror should jsut stop working, It reflects its surroundings still, Dispite all odds.

It just works in a different way. One that we are not used to.

My heart is a mirror.

So please, be patient. I’m trying to get used, The the new images reflecting, And the new way it works.

I’m giving you this loaded gun. I beg you, please don’t shoot. I’m not sure I can readjust again, You can’t see through the cracks anymore, One more shot, and it will turn to dust. Incapable of working.

And I’ll just have to throw it away. Give up. So forgive me as I stare into the eyes, of the person I once loved, Every ounce of affection, Slowly melting into suspension.

As I stared into the eyes of the person I once loved, every ounce of my affection slowly melted away. I looked in his eyes and no longer saw the future, just the anger and confusion of all decisions and mistakes. His voice was unrecognizable, and his embrace felt detached and unwelcome. The tears falling, the anxiety rising, words with no sympathy. This was it; this was the end.