Love Letters

A Story by tyson

I hid the letters she had written me in the pocket of an old coat and hung it back on the rack with the others. She knew I normally kept them in the safe. We had been drinking one night and I was foolish enough to tell her. She wanted them back and she was already on her way. When she arrived, I refused to give them to her and let the scavenger hunt begin.

She hit the safe first. She found the key hidden in an old glasses case; she had seen me hide it there before. The letters were gone and she wasn’t impressed. However, my passport, spare keys and pipe- were not. She threw the keys and passport my way, but pocketed the pipe. F**k.

I tried to snatch it out, but her hands got in the way. The second time was a success. She sat down on top of the bed while I locked my things away. She was hurt and wanted to hurt me. She felt betrayed. I could see it in her eyes. I knew I was responsible. I couldn’t bear to look at her. I couldn’t bear to see the monster I had created. I had become the poison that was slowly killing this girl.

I sat next to her on the bed and pushed up against her arm. She was warm. There was a silence that grabbed a hold of time and prolonged it. I lifted her chin up and apologised for everything. She slapped me in the face, hard- and again twice more. By the third, tears were rolling down her cheeks. She tried so hard to hold them back. I clutched her wrist just before the fourth.

My head dropped against hers. I held her close; our rhythm was out. I could feel my eyes welling with guilt. They wandered off to the memory of our love. It was big, but it was gone. I kissed the side of her face. I told her that, ‘everything was going to be all right’. I knew it wasn’t and so did she. She stayed the night and it was beautiful. She left early the next morning.

We broke up three days later.