Sleep doesn’t take me like it used to. I lay alone in a twin-sized bed. A hole in my heart replaced childhood. Sometimes, My phone rings at night. Claire de lune haunts my dreams. I know when those keys play, you soon will follow. You twist the tale and spin me around the door handle. I open the door only for you.

For a while, we talk. You talk as if you had never left. You are so kind. It would break me to mention that you never took your jacket. You had pulled away from me so suddenly—no signs of wear or newly formed cracks. You decided we were done and offered no explanation. Yet here you are, on the edge of my bed, as you wait for a reply. Your hair is longer; Do you come less frequently? It’s hard to notice; I only breathe when you look at me.

I do wonder what you’ll say if I never spoke another word to you. Will you beg for me to speak? Will you leave? Would it hurt you if I cut you out of my life? If I could ever be as cruel as you, I think it would scar. People would whisper, ‘did you hear what happened?’ when you walked into the room. Would you pray the predatory eyes of local gossips would find a new target? You don’t seem like the type. You’d revel in it, no bad publicity.

All our friends heard versions of our break up before I did. You plotted to burn me at the stake with my childhood friends. How did you make me a villain? How can you back here after everything you have done?

You steal my heart. I wander the town in a feeble attempt to pick up the shredded remains of my life. The fantasy’s you speak in the post office, the foundations of deceit you sprinkle at the pub. There is no escape. The only person I have is you.

When you ignore my texts, I cry for hours. When you call, I answer in seconds. You offer more love than the sun does light. Yet my world freezes over. Your emotions sway and exile me in an instant. How can we continue like this? Why do you continue like this?

You need me; that must be it. Listen to me as I believe your lies. I sound like a fool. You don’t so easily discard what you need. Being together is not something you want. You ended it. You need someone to hurt. You can’t go without it. How pathetic. I live my life, and you can’t wait to destroy it. For a while, you were okay with being a part of it. My light, the area I spread it. You basked in something you couldn’t create. You saw who I shared it with, and you attended the places where it shone the brightest. Then you created shade, built obstacles for my light. You told them not to worry that I when I didn’t shine as bright. You twisted the narrative, you told them the light was harmful. You told them to hate me, and they listened. How couldn’t they? You are so persuasive. You’ve hoarded all my love. You make me unable to share it with the people in my life. Even if I did spend the effort to break through your structures, a population that despises me sits on the other side. A master architect and his unlimited resources. You will not dig my grave. You will not keep my love.

I will send my hair down the tower you created, and I will run towards freedom. You wouldn’t chase me with a knife; you’ve spent too long sharpening your tongue. How pathetic you seem to me now. Earmuffs could defeat you, you sinister little piglet. If I could deafen the town, would they see you for what you are? A terrible creature who weaves tales in the vines. You broke them with clean blows, but you made a mistake with me. As long as it was yours, the light was allowed to grow. Now it’s to strong to be contained,

“Get out.”