Out of Love | Contest: #shawnrocketprize

Chapter 1

"What's on your mind," she desperately and undoubtedly asked, wanting to grasp why he was so distant. Hoping maybe he would finally open up.

They were sitting peacefully at the place of their first date. Thinking this was the best place for them to regain the spark they had been losing lately. They chose to enjoy a picnic in the area just outside of town. He was staring out at the view of all the kids playing and the mothers talking while her eyes only focused on him. She forgot her surroundings.

She was in love with him.

He never leaves her mind and is always there, mentally, if not physically. It's practically impossible to get him off her mind. It's solely beyond comprehension. He's her one balanced forced, her one, stability in a world filled with chaos and she so desperately needed that in her life. She loves him so much for that. This feeling is so strange; it widens throughout her entire body. It's piercing yet makes her feel complete. It was not bound nor forced nor compelled; it's just absolute. It feels as though she is in threatening fire, yet she is safe at the same time. It feels as though someone's granted her peace. It was a sensation as though her heart is dancing around her chest.

"Nothing," he replied, bluntly almost annoyed. He was tired of her wanting to know everything, and it hurts him to keep lying to her. But it was the only solution.

She looked into his eyes when she said, "I love you," he never answered. He looked slightly to the side; his lips pressed in a thin line before staring back at her. "I love you too," he lied. It was so vivid in the tone of his voice he didn't seem to feel the same way anymore.

This relationship was nothing more than a crushing burden for him.

It wasn't the same.

He merely lost the feeling of butterflies in his stomach when she spoke or the light that shines in his eyes every time she smiled.

It was all gone.

Suddenly she felt like another friend. His view of her, in short, returned to the balanced perception of a normal human being that he held before he lost his wits and instantly fell in love. The need to be near her, to know her every thought has now vanished.

He still remembers what he saw in her, all those years back. He even clearly sees it now. But somehow, as though a switch was flipped, he could no longer feel it. It was now just a faint memory of how he used to feel.

But she doesn't know that.

She would break and shatter if she found out.

He knew telling her would be the right thing to do. If he didn't, they would both living a lie that would ruin both of them.

"Lena,"- he called her name softly. She turned to see him staring at her with a pitiful look. - "We need to talk," he said.

She knew at that moment that it was over. She could feel the pain in her heart hit her hard. He didn't have to say anything she knew.

"Please," she begged with her voice pleading with her eyes.

"I don't think I can do this anymore. I just need space right now," and with that, he got up and left.

Left her alone.

This long 5-year relation was over just like that.

It hit her hard.

His words like nails and hammers, breaking her heart apart. She cried and cried. She cried out to her God, wondering how he could inflict so much pain inside her chest. She was alone. Completely, utterly alone, without him to comfort her.

She now lacks that someone who had been with her for over 5-years—that same someone who promised her a forever only to leave when things became too hard.

And now he is gone.

He walked away with tears in his eyes. He had to get away quickly because he couldn't see her cry. It still hurts him to see her shatter like that because he cared. He cared so much for her.

He felt as if the center of his world was taken away and replaced with nothing at all. But oddly enough, he felt relieved.

He knew he hurt her terribly, but it was the only thing he could do when he no longer wanted to live this fake life he's been pretending to live for so long. It was finally over, and he could now move on away from this burden that was called his relationship with her.

But her, she was broken now, shattered really, robbed early of the tape and glue necessary to put her soul back together.

She was mad.

Mad at herself for being such fool and not seeing it sooner, and it pains to see him walk away like he didn't just stab a sharp knife inside her heart.

Mad at the fact that he didn't even let her say a single word. He didn't also explain the only thing and left her to cry in front of everyone that was staring at her.

He felt the pain, but the pain wasn't as superior as how free he felt. It wasn't meant to be, and he knew that, and he was okay with that.

He fell out of love...