She had said “I love you,” that night.

Aeric would be lying if he said that he had believed her when she said those words to him. But he didn't tell her that. He probably should have, but he didn't.

By the time they got to that night, they both had the fleeting suspicion that what they had wasn't going to last in the long run. It was going to end soon. Little did he know, soon for her meant the next morning.

Aeric guessed they both expected it to end the way it did, maybe she knew something he didn't. Maybe she felt like there was no point in playing pretend anymore. To give up the charade of acting like things were going great and not completely wrong. That it was easiest to just tell him that she loved him (and maybe even mean it) and leave shortly thereafter. Aeric just wished she hadn't done it the way she did.

Aeric didn't even notice that she was gone when he woke up. He didn't know why, he just didn't.

He just expected her to be there.

He wanted her to be in the bathroom taking a shower, in the kitchen making breakfast or maybe just maybe she had gone out for a walk outside. And when he didn't see her in their house, what else was there for him to think? It was completely like her to just leave in the morning without saying a word to him or waking him up.

What would he have even done if he found out on time? Or if he had woken up while she was packing her things? The answer? Nothing... he would've done nothing if he had known what she was doing or planning. Maybe another question is what should he have done?

What would have been the right thing for him to do?

Was there a right thing for him to do?

Maybe the whole entire reason he didn't see anything was because he didn't want to see anything. Aeric didn't want to see anything wrong with them, even though he did. He had never said anything to her about it. He had wanted to keep on pretending, like nothing was wrong. He wanted to be a part of the play and act out the part of the happy couple with her.

When Aeric finally did realize what had happened, he wasn't even fazed by it. It took him a long while to notice. In fact it took him the entire morning. But when he did, he noticed that her clothes were gone, her books were gone…

Everything that she owned in their house was gone. He guessed he'd have to call it just his house now. Not theirs .

The place felt empty without her, like the entire life of the place had been sucked out, leaving it with a bland and boring feel.

Aeric felt empty, like the entirety of his being had been sucked out because of her leaving. Aeric could feel all the once light parts of his heart becoming more and more dark and gloomy. In the end, Aeric couldn't even recognize himself anymore.

He guessed what they said was right… you do only realize what someone means to you when they're gone.

For the longest time Aeric was the only one that could even utter the words “I love you.”

She could never find it in herself to say it back. Aeric had sort of understood, she was a Never, raised to believe that love was not for her. But that night when she finally said those words back to him, he just didn't know what to say.

It wouldn't have been a lie to say “I love you.''

He had been saying those words to her for months now and the moment she finally felt the same or felt able to repeat them back to him, he couldn’t say them back? Why couldn’t he say them back?

He shouldn't have chickened out at that moment.

He should have said “I love you'', that night. Then maybe things would have ended differently.

But he didn't.

And now she was gone.

~C~

Aeric had a child.

A son.

He was surprised when he found out. He had thought she would have gotten rid of any remnants of him when she left. She didn’t but that wasn’t what surprised him the most.

She had named the son after him. Aric. He had never seen the boy himself, but he had heard rumours. Plenty of rumours.

But the only ones he was interested in were the ones that told him where she was.

The School For Evil.

They said she was a Dean there. Not allowed to love. To live. He wondered what his son’s life was like, if she wasn’t allowed to have him. Where was he? Could he find his son?

Aric?

~C~

He had gone to the School For Good and Evil. Good’s Dean, Clarissa Dovey, had told him that she wasn’t there. She was lying. He knew it.

And if he wasn’t allowed to see her then he would go to his son instead.

~C~

He was laying on the ground, covered in blood and gasping for breath. His hand was covering his abdomen, where the stab wound was.

And his son, Aric, stood over him, holding a knife.

“Goodbye, father, ” He heard the child spit out, his voice full of hatred. “I’m sure you’ll be able to see mother soon enough,” The thought horrified him. He felt a tear run down his face. What had gone wrong with his son?

He managed to gasp out one last thing before his vision went dark.

“L-Leonora, I love you.’’