“What? I don’t understand. What’s wrong?” he pleads, wiping the tears from my eyes. “Aoi, I don’t know what to do…please just tell me what’s wrong.”
I push him again, this time freeing myself from his traitorous touch. “Leave me alone!”
I scramble to my feet and flee like I always do when my cowardly self is confronted with the truth. The abominable truth that I have been duped since the beginning.
How could he?
Andrew.
Visha.
Andrew.
Visha.
Andrew.
Visha.
Andrew.
Visha.
I hate you.
***
“Aoi? What’s wrong?” Elena asks, yawning. “Oh, fuck. Are you crying? Come inside.”
I can’t move.
Thankfully, she calls for her girlfriend who appears at the doorstep a minute later, dressed in only a satin matching pajama set, her hair braided.
She doesn’t ask me what happened as she pulls me inside and hugs me. I don’t know what takes over me, but the tears burst out like a rusty pipe exceeding its utility, and I wail in her arms, sinking into her like a wet sponge.
How could I be so stupid? How could I not have known? When I look back on it I should have recognized him sooner. Why did he do this to me? How could he lie to me and use me like that?
He said he loved me.
I thought he actually loved me.
Elena sneaks up behind us and shuts the door before guiding us to the guest room where I slump over the bed. I can’t move anymore. My body’s weight triples as I sink into the mattress like a boulder.
The cold numbness of my skin feels raw, and I’m stripped of my armor. He stripped me of my defenses just to stab my heart and let it bleed.
Bare and bleeding.
Fissured and poisoned.
Tainted and broken.
Soft hands wrap around my ankles and take my shoes off before they cover me with the pink blanket. Hibiscus and papaya dance in the air, and I know it’s Amira tucking me into bed.
She slips out of the room for what feels like an eternity. Muffled voices echo behind the bedroom door then she’s back, settling under the cover next to me. Her scent envelopes me as she pulls me into her arms, and I cry my throat hoarse.
No words are uttered as she comforts me until exhaustion gets the best of me. Gentle fingers rake through my hair and a soft humming lulls me to sleep.
I feel so small beside her.
