Broken Promises

His voice trembled as he spoke and tears welled up in his eyes, blurring his vision, “You know I love you. I’m so sorry…I was drunk…I didn’t know what I was doing”. The tears were falling down his face now, like liquid heat. The other end of the phone was silent…dead silent. He wasn’t sure if she was still on the line. “Say something,” he said, his voice cracking, “anything”. The phone was again silent for a moment before he heard her let out deep sigh and change positions.

“What do you want me to say?” she said. Her tone was so icy cold that he could almost feel a breeze through the phone. “I mean, what can I say? You cheated on me.”

His heart sank. It felt like someone had tackled him and knocked the wind out of him. They both were silent for a moment. She sat holding the phone and staring straight ahead. She wanted to feel something...hurt, angry, sad...something, but she was numb. No tears welled up in her eyes and the sound of him on the phone now, trying desperately to hold in his sobs did nothing to her.

“So this is it then?” he said, finally breaking the awkward silence between them, “After 3 years, this is how it ends?”

“I guess so,” she said. Her tone was sharp and sarcastic.” It hadn’t really sunk in what was happening. She thought that this all was just a bad dream. “You’re the one who ended it this way.”

“But I told you I was drunk!” He was raising his voice now, “I didn’t know what I was doing!” His sadness had turned into anger, “You know I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose!”

Her icy tone change in a flash, “Oh, so just because you were drunk, that’s supposed to make everything ok?” She too, was raising her voice. Her face was hot with blood and her eyebrows were so close together, they were almost touching. “What happens the next time? Just because you drank some beer, that means you’re not responsible for your actions? You slept with a girl you didn’t even know! She could get pregnant or have passed some disease to you. Even if I did forgive you, do you really think that I’d let you touch me again? I love you,” she said. Her voice was starting to crack now, but she refused to let him hear her cry on the phone. “But you took a chance with your life, and I’m not willing to.”

She paused finally. The phone was silent…too silent. She as afraid for a second that he may have done something drastic. When she heard him sniffling softly, she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

“I can’t lose you,” he said finally, “I just can't.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, “but you already have, and there’s nothing that you can do about it.” Before he could get a chance to say anything else she cut him off. “I’ll come by your apartment to pick up my things later. You don’t have to be there. I’ll lock the door and leave my copy of the key under the mat.”

He wanted to say something else, but it was too late. He’d already heard the click of the phone that meant that she’d hung up. He sat there for a moment, still holding the phone. Suddenly, he grabbed it and threw it across the room with all of his strength. He fell to his knees in a heap with his head resting on the floor in front of him. He pounded the floor hard with his fist, but his hits became weaker and weaker as his sobs overcame him.

On the other side of town, she sat staring blankly at the phone. Details from the conversation replayed over and over in her head. The numbness that she felt earlier started to melt away and turn into sadness. A single tear fell from her eyes. As it slid down her cheek, the anger in her welled up again, and she quickly wiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand. She refused to cry over him. She wouldn’t let his actions break her down…she couldn’t. She tried to fight it, but her eyes were so full with tears that she couldn’t see anymore. She knew that when she blinked that they would begin to fall again...

He sat on the floor holding the empty vodka bottle upside down, trying to get the last few drops out. The now bone dry bottle was half full when he started drinking a half hour ago. He just wanted the pain to go away. He threw the bottle against the wall, and it exploded into thousands of pieces. He struggled to his feet and stumbled to the kitchen. “She’s gonna try to leave me after all we’ve been through,” he slurred, “I was there for her when she had nobody…ME! I was there!” He was yelling now. He reached in the drawer and pulled out a large knife. He stared at his reflection in the shiny metal. “If I can’t have her,” he said to his reflection, “then nobody can.”

She threw a few empty boxes and bags in the back seat of her car. Just a few days ago, she was happily watching movies at her fiancé’s apartment. Now she was on her way to the same apartment to pack up her belongings. As she drove, she thought about all the ups and downs that they’d had in their three years together. Now, after one night of bad decisions their relationship was coming to an end. She looked down at the diamond solitaire engagement ring on her left hand and bit her lip. Her eyes didn’t water this time, because they were already too puffy and sore to cry again. As she turned into his neighborhood, she thought “He said that he would never do anything to hurt me on purpose…I guess that was a lie.” She parked the car and grabbed a few boxes from the back seat. She saw his car parked in the parking lot, so she knew that he was still at home. She paused and took a deep breath when she arrived at his door. “Well, here goes…everything,” she thought before putting her key in the lock and turning it.

Dear Reader, it's up to you to figure out what happens next...


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