Chapter 19: Breaking Point
235 Words
“I just need space,” I told him after class, my arms crossed even though it hurt to do it.
His face dropped. “Space?” he echoed. “Emma, are you serious?”
“I’m losing myself,” I said quietly. “I don’t even know who I am outside of you anymore.”
He stepped back, his eyes dark. “So I’m the problem now.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But that’s what you mean.”
I didn’t stop him when he walked away. I told myself I needed time. Clarity.
But all I felt was hollow.
The next few days were worse. My phone stayed silent. No rooftop messages. No quick glances in the dining hall. The world felt quieter without him in it.
Lily sat beside me in our dorm that Friday night. “You’re in love with him,” she said. “You know that, right?”
“I’m scared,” I whispered.
She smiled softly. “Then be scared. But don’t run.”
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The rooftop was soaked when I got there.
It had started raining just before sunset—gentle at first, then harder. The kind of rain that felt like it was washing the world clean. I hadn’t planned to come, but something pulled me there. A whisper of memory, of where it all began.
I wasn’t expecting him to be there too.
- Writer
