“Don’t believe me? Here,” he says as he takes out his outdated camera phone and shows me a picture.
Mabel was laughing, looking unbelievably beautiful, Jimmy’s arm wrapped around her.
The blood rushes to my head, my eyesight becomes fuzzy and a wave of nausea rushes through me.
I dry heave before looking back to him, doing my best not to let this fucker get to me.
“I don’t believe you,” I hiss through gritted teeth, trying to stop the vomit from leaving my mouth.
“Fine, how about now?” He asks, showing me the next picture, this time Mabel looking at him, the same way she always looked at me, eyes widewith wonder and her cheeks slightly flushed from heat, him speaking in her ear.
This time, the vomit doesn’t stop, and I run towards the closest trash can, expelling the contents of my stomach into it, flowers still tight within my grasp.
“Sorry man, but for once, you lose,” the snake leans down into my ear as my head stays firm in the trash can. I watch him in the corner of my eye walk away; a shit-eating grin etched into his face like he’s so proud of what he’s just done.
He’s just single handedly ruined and wrecked my whole world.
I don’t know how long I stay hunched over the trash can for, could have been fifteen minutes, maybe fifteen hours, but the tears staining my cheeks refuse to let up.
Finally, I rise up from out of the trash can, wiping my mouth to remove any excess vomit. I take a deep breath before looking around the bus terminal.
Thousands of thoughts rush through my head, and the ability to breathe is becoming harder as the seconds wear on. The tightness in my chest is becoming heavier as I do my bestto calm myself down, but I fail miserably.
Shaking, the ticket stand comes into my view and as if on impulse my feet move towards the shortest queue.
Panic coursing through my veins, my heart shattering as the static in my head becomes too much to bear.
“Where ya’ heading, honey?” the desk attendant asks.
I look around me, my breathing rapid.
“Cali- California, please,” I stutter out, my hands shaking as I reach once again for my wallet.
“You’re in luck, one leaves in ten minutes,” she says, eyeing me from over her computer, but I can’t find the words, I nod back to her, the ring in my pocket burning a deep hole.
How has this happened?
Does she really love him instead?
Before more questions come flying into my mind, she hands me my ticket and takes the fifty-dollar bill I hold in my own hand.
“Better hurry, honey, it’s boarding,” she smiles back at me.
“Thanks,” is all I can manage.
I turn to walk away but am stopped by the sound of her voice again.
“Sir, you left your flowers,” she says, tapping on the clear glass.
“Keep them.” I say, before heading back in the direction that my whole world just fell apart in.
Not caring who sees me now, whether they know me or not, I let myself go.
I let the tears come.
I allow the tears to fall.
I walk away, not knowing if I’ll ever return back from this.
