+part.one+

She looked up at the enormous house. That, that had been where he had held her so close those many countless nights. Hard to believe that was all gone. So hard to accept that she'd never have it again. Why had things gotten so rough? Why were their vows of being together forever broken? It wasn't fair. Then again, who had ever said life was fair? God knows it isn't easy. Maybe, in a strange way, that is your reward. For you to go through so many hard times and come out of them. Maybe not on top-oh no, never on top-but the fact that you've come out.

She took in a shaky, deep breath. Her heart was racing and she had no way of stopping it. She had been like this countless times before. She had tried before, numerous times, to stop the rapid beat of her heart and slow the quick shallow breaths that were barely getting any oxygen to her lungs. It gave her a light-headed feeling. A feeling she almost liked. She had loved him so much and experienced the quickened heart rate and raspy breathing whenever she was with him.

He had wrapped his arms around her and whispered things to her, his hot breath lingering across her neck, giving her goose bumps. He had her entranced. All she had to do was look deep into his warm brown eyes and she was gone. She would have stayed lost forever if it were up to her. She would have gladly stayed lost forever. But, as she had come to learn, things change over time and time changes people. God does time change people. Just the other day she had been sitting contently in his arms, not caring if the world ended that very moment. As long as they were together, everything was fine and would be fine. Forever. Or so she thought. She would have never thought one sentence, one group of words run together spoken all in one breath, would end what they had worked so hard to get.

There was no longer an "us" between the two of them.

She began to take a step forward, towards the house. She stopped abruptly. No. No way she could go to the door and knock. Things would be so strange. The words she would speak so foreign. The familiar feeling of his hand going gently through her hair would be a feeling she would never feel again. They promised to be friends. Friends forever. That wouldn't happen. No matter how hard either of them tried. It wasn't happening.