A Love Lost

Sarah had waited many painful long weeks for this goodbye. She sat on the beach waiting for her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Thomas to arrive. Tears were filling her eyes like an overflowing river as she tried to work out what to say. She decided that silence was better. She would hold his hand, look into his eyes, and say nothing as she walked away.

She thought that they would be together forever. They had spent fifteen long happy years together, and she was happy until she saw him in the bar with another woman last night. He had been all over her like a bad rash, and it had been pretty obvious to her that he was going to leave her anyway. She slammed her fist into the sand as the river of tears had tipped the edge, and were now flowing down her cheeks like an angry waterfall.

When Thomas arrived, he had no idea why Sarah was crying. He sat next to her, and Sarah looked into his eyes in silence. Thomas could see that she had been crying because her mascara had run in dark streaks down her face.

He said nothing; he stared at her in silence.

He felt empty inside, like he had a black empty void where his emotions should have been. He knew that last night was a mistake that should never have happened. He stared down through his eyelashes, keeping his eyes closed.

He had no words. He didn't deserve them anyway, and he knew that nothing he said was going to make this any better.

He gently held Sarah's hand and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Sarah let out a half-smile but she shut her eyes, as she felt a lump at the back of her throat, and tears were pooling in her eyes again. Eventually, she let go. She realized that this was just a play on affection on Thomas's part.

A play to get her to stay.

She stepped back from him, feeling shocked that he thought that he could get away with this. Her heart had shattered in front of her, like walking on glass and feeling it shatter into a million pieces beneath her feet, but the pain and anger that she felt was rising slowly from the pit of her stomach. She put some distance between them so that she could breathe a little bit, by stepping away so that they were at least two meters apart. Thomas held his hands out in protest, and he shrugged as he felt his heart sinking like a ship in a shipwreck. Tears started dripping down his face, and he held his head down in embarrassment, and because he felt ashamed of what he had done.

Sarah shook her head and turned to walk away. She knew that she couldn't stay any longer and that she could never forgive him for what he had done.

Thomas stared after her. Once she was out of sight, he stared into the empty vast space of the ocean. Tears were streaming down his face as memories of them having loving moments on this very beach played in his mind. He thought back to last week when they were standing here making marriage plans and getting excited about their future together. The thought caused him to angrily throw a pebble into the sea, which sunk instantly; just like his sinking heart.

He realized that his forever love had just ended, all because of one very big stupid mistake. His legs felt like jelly, and he wobbled, falling to the sand; where he curled into a ball and covered his hands with his face. He cried on the beach all night, as he realized the love of his life was gone, and she was never coming back.