"On the same day, my husband-to-be

Packed his things to run"

✦

"Darling?"

The sponge slipped from my hands, bouncing around the lustrous surface of the sink. Halting above the drain, it swelled at the absorption of the water gushing from the tap.

"I-yes," I stammered, spinning around to face him with my back to the counter, clutching it so an impression marked as a line formed in my palms.

"The sink," he pointed out, meeting my confused gaze with his own, "it's still on."

"Oh, I was just doing the, um, dishes."

Coming back to earth, I twisted back to shut off the steady stream of water. Through the plumbing, silence flooded the air in exchange for the gurgling.

"There's no dishes left," he chuckled seconds later, but not enough for the crows feet by his eyes to chirp hello. Were they in hibernating for the winter? Or had they flown north with the rest of him?

"I was just finishing up," I squeaked, drifting my eyes to my pruned hands, under water far longer than two dishes should've sentenced.

"Okay, I was thinking we could watch a movie and put that puzzle you've been working at for weeks together?" He questioned hesitantly.

"Sure, let me just go get changed."

I made my way to the steps hurriedly, an extra beat of excitement accompanying my heart. I couldn't remember the last night we spent together.

After stepping into our bedroom, a flash of light caught my eye. In curiosity I followed the setting sun's reflection to the table on the side of the bed where he always slept.

At the sight inside the drawer, my hand fell to the comforter. I leant my weight on it as I plummeted to the mattress.

The ring. His ring. Our ring.

Surrounded like a fortress by the watch. His watch. The watch.

I was frozen, the sight of the small clock stopping time.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

It drowned on and on and on, every second addressed with a tick, succeeded by more tick, ticks.

Knock, knock.

The soft pound was followed by a long, drawn out creak. He slowly stepped inside, watching me carefully as if in fear of my implosion.

"It's been fifteen minutes, are you alright..."

Nine hundred seconds. Nine hundred tick, tick, ticks spent cemented to the sounds of the watch.

"Y-yeah," I murmured, still staring into the black abyss of the closet in front of me.

"Are you sure? We can reschedule if you'd like?" He proposed, relief seeping through his skin in the form of a relaxed posture and small exhale of breath.

"Okay."

I crawled up to the pillows, my knees sinking into the plush surface, and sneaked inside my newfound refuge beneath the comforter. The warmth did little to settle the chill in my veins and rattling of my bones.

"I always sleep on that side, babe." He tried to sound light hearted, but the 'babe' was so forced and awkward, it made me clench the sheets and my eyes well with tears of grief.

"I know," I peeped, my lips brushing the linen as I sealed my eyes shut.

"I'll just be heading to Jason's then since I'm not quite tired. Don't expect me by morning, I have to head into the office early." I wouldn't have anyways.

He shuffled out the bedroom and the front door without a wink of response from me, leaving me to hyper focus on the tick, tick, ticks again.

I curled deeper into the sheets, attempting to inhale every last scent of his cologne to drown out my other senses. The original woody aroma had long faded, now cloaked by a spicy cinnamon smell which was unable to bring the familiarity and comfort his last would. That smell was drifting too; he hadn't slept here in over a week.

Because things were always coming up.

Guys night at Mark's. Work to do late at the office. Movie to fall asleep to on the couch. Pleasure to be served between my secretary's legs...

The list went on and on, but did it ever end? Would it ever be published, or would it be long forgotten in the pile of drafts his lies had already crafted?

Grasping the short headboard, I wormed my way upwards into a sitting position with a huff. I grasped onto the ring inside the drawer beside me, the graze against the watch to reach it burning my skin like it was an electric fence in security of the jewelry.

I pushed the pesky strands of hair from my eyes and fiddled with the silver band, barley visible in the darkness the moon was tugging out from hiding. Shuffling off the bed, I ambled my way to the cushioned ledge in front of the window spanning wall to wall.

The void muddled with stars seemed to mock me, taunting me with their gift of infinite shine. I craved their incessant beauty and blind adoration. How they could be dead but still glimmer in our planet's night was a skill I wish I possessed.

Maybe if I was aflame and glistening, he'd be here with his ring sparkling in unison, secured tightly around his finger and watch around his wrist.

Ring, ring, ring.

I could barley make out the muffled beeping through the walls of the house, but stirred out of my thoughts, I fled down to the sound in recognition of it.

Did he call to inform me he had just misplaced the ring and watch and forgot to grab them before he left? That he loves me? That he wants me—that I'm enough?

Without reading the caller ID I swiped the screen to answer and held it to my ear, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip in anticipation.

"Hello?" I greeted slightly too cheerfully.

"Would you like the chance at a free—"

The phone plunged to the tiles of the kitchen floor, my body slumping in harmony. My fingers laced through my hair, tugging at my scalp simultaneously with the impact of my knees slamming to the floor. Pain shot through my body, my kneecaps feeling as though they fractured, but the overwhelming sense of dejection and unrequited love coursing my brain and filling my tear ducts was incomparable.

I choked out incomprehensible sounds and begged the radio silence strangling me for an answer.

Wiping beneath my nose with the back of my shaking hand, I reached for my phone. The unprotected glass screen was a mosaic of broken shards.

What was left to shatter?

Suddenly his name flashed before me within the mash of fragments, Matt. Hope dried my pathetic tears, filling my mind with thoughts of my dramatics.

"Hello?" My voice was scratchy and weak but still soaked in optimistic wishes.

"Ev? Did I wake you up?" He sounded worried. Did he care?

"Um, no," I murmured. I was only just crying at the potential beginning of the end.

"Okay, well, I left something at the house—"

"It's in your nightstand drawer!" I rushed out, the words spewing from my mouth faster than he had skirted my presence.

"...my laptop charger. I need it tomorrow for work."

"Oh."

"I can borrow someone else's. Bye," he replied gently and slightly pitifully.

He hung up immediately after and my eyes sealed with moisture. I swung my head to the ground, tears splashing on the tiles.

The official beginning to the end.