Yours, Forever

“He is not here.” The strange woman said to her.

She looked round the house she had become so familiar with but now it just felt cold, blank and empty. The warm energy that used to pour from its windows was gone, replaced by eerie silence and still air. The porch, once littered with his boots, Layla’s sandals, or even Grace’s broken slippers, was swept clean—too clean.

“What do you mean by that.. I mean…” She started to say but the stranger raised her hands effectively cutting her off.

“It seems you’ve got the wrong place, young girl. The name you just called is strange to me. I’ve not heard it before. You can go and ask around maybe you are lost.”

“No ma, I am not.” Madison insisted.

She was very sure of what she was saying.

This was the house she’d come to call her second home.

It was in this same brown bricked house she’d laughed, she’d cried, she’d moaned in pleasure, she’d….

She had to stop thinking about all those now. The memories tried to claw their way to the surface, too loud, too painful, too tempting. Her lips parted to speak again, but her throat suddenly felt dry.

“Ma, sorry to disturb you but I’m very sure of what I’m saying. I’m looking for Dam……” She trailed off because the woman didn’t even allow her finish.

“Young girl. You are lost, I don’t know who Damien Daniel is, or Layla or Grace or whatever other person’s name you are calling. I just packed in here new, I don’t know what you are saying.”

The woman just packed in here newly. A new tenant.

It had been a few days since she’d seen Damien last, standing in front of this porch and they’d talked, more like argued but still… she remembered his clenched fists, the disappointment in his eyes, the way his lips curled in anger before he finally said it—that he was leaving, and that when he did, he wouldn’t come back.

She couldn’t believe her ears, with the thoughts going on in her mind, she prayed that what she was thinking was not the situation here.

When had he left?

When was the house put up for rent?

When, when, when?

She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but the woman standing in front of her didn’t look like she was going to give her the answers. She didn’t even look like she cared.

“But…” She began again and the woman who was already getting annoyed as shown on her facial expression said,

“No buts. I don’t know who Damien Daniel is, I have not heard that name before in my life, and I was actually arranging my things and cooking. So if you’ll excuse me.”

The woman said and without even allowing her to say anything, she banged the door loud and square on her face.

The sound echoed. Loud. Final.

She blinked once, twice, thrice and then she pinched herself to know if this was real.

Did he leave without telling her just as he’d said, no he just couldn’t.

He’d said it to her face, that he was going to leave and when he did he wouldn’t come back.

He had said it to her face that he didn’t care about her existence anymore, and he was sorely betrayed by what she did, but she had begged him to stay.

She told him she would come back, and explain every single thing to him, she would tell him the truth, but what did he do? Leave without looking back!

But the truth was staring at her right at the face. A truth that was so hard to comprehend, she was more than confused.

Who was she going to ask?

What was she going to do?

All these and more ran through Madison’s mind as she fell down to the floor in tears, her heart breaking, shattering in pieces.

This couldn’t just be happening to her.

Her knees hit the ground with a thud. She didn’t even feel the pain. The porch was dusty, bits of gravel sticking to her jeans, but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.

She didn’t want to believe it at all, and she pinched her skin for the umpteenth time wanting to wake up from this dream. It was a dream, this wasn’t real at all.

Her hands instinctively went to her stomach, and she squeezed the little bump growing tightly, as the stream of tears continued to fall down her face.

A tiny life. A secret. A future she had wanted to share with him—regardless of how broken their past was.

She was in a huge mess, a very big one at that, that had no solution at all.

He had been her only hope, her last chance at surviving this mess, and now she had pushed him away with her ignorance and callous lies.

She had refused to listen to the voices in her head, and she was going to suffer heavily for it.

Now, the reality of the whole situation was staring back at her now.

She’d caused this, and now she had to pay!

And yet the street was so quiet.

She looked around slowly, hoping maybe someone would come out and say it was a prank, yes. That’s what this was nothing else. And Damien was just inside and the woman was lying. That this was a misunderstanding, or maybe he was at the back of the house—watering the plants like he sometimes did.

But there was no laughter. No plants. No one coming outside. Nothing. No Damien even. 

Just emptiness. A scorching emptiness that threatened to eat her from then inside out.

And a locked door.

And the cold.

Madison let her hand fall from her stomach as she cradled her face instead, rocking gently as her sobs deepened. Gods what had she done. Why had she done it. 

Now she had lost him.

Maybe forever.

It was not maybe, it was forever.