Love Her

Part 28

I blinked twice, trying to clear my head. I was so tired. I lay back against the wall, my head spinning. I was too confused, too worn out. I closed my eyes, trying to make sense of it, only to be swallowed up by unconsciousness so swiftly that it was disorienting.

"You don't love me anymore, do you?"

"You know you don't really believe that."

"Oh, don't I?" I fumed.

"No. You don't."

"Do you really have any idea how important you are to me? Any concept at all of how much I love you?"

She turned away from me. "I could take a guess."

"Before you, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars - points of light and reason. And then you shot across the sky like a meteor. All of a sudden, there was brilliance and beauty everywhere.

Everything was on fire. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything."The shrouded future sent a shiver down my spine.

"I know and I'm sorry, Rachel, I just . . ."

I shook my head and sighed. "I know. Doesn't matter, right? I guess I'll survive or something. Who needs love? Or friends for that matter?" I grimaced, trying to cover the pain with a thin attempt at bravado.

My life was feeling a lot like a game of dice right now - would the next roll come up with snake eyes? What if something did happen to me?

I barely noticed that it was raining. I waited, without knowing what I waited for until the door opened behind me.

"Excuse me, ladies." an older woman pardoned.

"You may be excused," I muttered under my breath, but I moved out of the way, regardless.

"Don't be like that," Melissa began. "I still love you, but let's be realistic-"

"You blame me for the accident, don't you?"

This was the first time we had spoken of the accident since it happened four weeks ago.

"N-no..."

"I know."

The world started to shimmer a little around the edges. My head spun and my stomach rolled. I exhaled in a big gust. How long had I been holding my breath?

Her eyes held mine for an immeasurable moment.