Flash Fiction - 06-07

Meredith sipped her last cup of coffee in their house - Nate's house - and glanced around the room.  It was cowardly to leave him like this - to sneak out while he was on a work trip - but she didn't have the energy to fight anymore.  She didn't remember the last time she truly felt at ease with Nate.  Their relationship had turned into some Ultimate Fighting competition, each of them trying to prove the other was wrong about....anything, everything.  She had lost her best friend in the process, the thought of which made her cry.  But the mess they'd created...this seemed the only way out.

She noticed one of her books still on the shelf, and pulled it down, distractedly.  And there, hidden behind a book she hadn't looked at since she put it there two years ago when she moved in, was a box.  A navy, velvet, 2-inch square box that could only mean one thing: Nate was going to propose.

How long it had been there?  And why it was there?  Didn't he know that they were poisoning each other with their oneupmanship, manipulating each just other for the satisfaction of breaking the other's will?  What was he thinking?  Sure, she would miss Sundays in bed doing the crossword puzzle (or not), she would miss how he always knew when she needed a hug, she would miss holding his hand while he let her watch whatever girly show she wanted to on television, she would miss whispering in the dark when they went to bed, like they were kids.  She loved him more than life, but could that be enough?  Or had they passed the point of no return?

Meredith crossed the room to her suitcase, unzipped it, and began to unpack.

[Word Count: 297]