THE HOUSE

Where did it all go wrong

ELIAS

The steering wheel felt rough beneath my fingers, like I was holding onto the edge of reason. I drove faster than I should, ignoring the blur of buildings and honking cars as I sped through the city.

My knuckles were pale from how tightly I gripped the wheel. Celia’s blood, her blood…was still on my hands, not just my skin, my hands, the ones that should’ve held her gently, the ones that should have comforted her, the ones that should have shown her love.

What the f**k did I do?

I didn’t mean it, not the way it happened, I wasn’t supposed to hurt her like that. She was just talking back again, and I…I wanted her to just stop for one second and listen to me, not challenge me like everyone else in this f*****g world does.

It wasn’t supposed to be like that, it’s never supposed to go that far, she just talks and talks and looks at me like she’s not mine anymore, like she’s already left me in her mind, and that makes my chest squeeze so hard it hurts, like a fist tightening around my heart.

But the milk jug… the glass… the way her head hit the table and the look on her face… no fight, or scream, just stunned silence and then…

God, no, the blood.

“f**k,” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my mouth.

“She’s bleeding, yeah, okay…fine, it’s a cut, a deep one maybe, but she’s not dead, she’s alive and breathing and mine, and if she can breathe, she can learn…right?”

There was a red light ahead, but I barely noticed. My vision was flashing red anyway, from anger, guilt, and everything swirling into a storm, she had looked at me like I was a stranger.

But I wasn’t always this person, was I?

My head leaned slightly back against the seat as a wave of memory hit me.

★★★Flashback★★★

She was standing in front of the game booth at the street fair, holding a stupid pink cotton candy like it was treasure. Her curls bounced every time she laughed, and her eyes sparkled like summer. I had been there for a product launch, all suits and business, but she was barefoot, holding her shoes in one hand and mocking me for wearing a tie.

“You always this uptight, Mr. CEO?” she’d teased, nudging me with her elbow.

I had laughed, me, Elias f*****g Moreau, laughing in the middle of a crowded street.

“Only until you walked into the picture.”

She smiled, and it felt like the world paused. That smile…it was real and free, used to be mine.

Once, during a rainstorm, I ran across the street just to buy her favorite donuts because she had a headache and wouldn’t stop crying about her stupid boss.

“Elias, you didn’t have to,” she’d said, soaked to her socks, but smiling at me like I held her whole sky.

★★★Back to Present★★★

What happened to us?

I wasn’t even sure when things had changed. Maybe it was when she started asking too many questions or when I started hearing that voice in my head that said she would leave too, just like they all do.

I pressed harder on the gas.

“She’s lucky,” I muttered to myself. “Lucky I kept her… cleaned her up and gave her a f*****g life.”

But my voice cracked a little, didn’t it?

Maybe she wasn’t the lucky one. Maybe I was the one who got lucky, finding someone so soft, light, and… real.

And now I’m f*****g ruining her.

The road ahead curved slightly, but I didn’t slow down, my mind replayed the moment she touched her head, looked at the blood on her fingers, she didn’t cry, neither did she scream.

She just looked at me, like I was a monster and maybe…just maybe I was.

My jaw tightened.

“No…No…No”, I’m not, I’m not that man, I didn’t grow up dreaming I’d be this guy, the one who hurts the only person that made him feel human.

My phone buzzed on the passenger seat, and I glanced over, it was a reminder from my assistant about the company launch. The new game, the one I’d shown her, the one I wanted to build a future with in Italy. The penthouse, a quiet place where I could maybe stop being the mess I am, where she could smile like she used to.

Still in my thoughts another message came in from Callum, my project partner.

“We need you at the office, the presentation is crashing, where the hell are you?”

I didn’t answer, or rather I couldn’t.

Instead, my eyes wandered for just a second, to the picture still taped to my dashboard. The one she printed for my birthday last year. We were both in bed, tangled in each other’s arms. She had this stupid grin on her face and my eyes were closed in the photo, but I remember how warm she felt beside me, like home, one j never had.

I whispered, “You were my safe place…”

But even as I said it, I knew I had already turned it into a war zone.

I gripped the wheel tighter.

Maybe I can make this right.

Maybe I could make things right, maybe if I drove home now, with actual bandages, and an apology that didn’t come from fear, but from honesty… maybe she'd listen. Maybe she’d still love me in the ruins of everything, she might cry, they always cry.

But crying means she still feels something, right?

“She cries for me, bleeds for me, and yet she stays. That’s love, isn’t it?” I said to myself, she still loves me.

I looked ahead again and that’s when I saw it coming.

A truck, a massive one, it was closing in fast, from the wrong lane, the driver kept blaring his horn.

I tried to swerve, and come to a brake, but…

CRASH!

All I remember was the sound of screeching tires and shattering glass, not sure which one and then a burst of blinding light, and…pain.

Then…nothing.