“You have six new messages. First new message:”
“Pick up! I know you’re there, come on, Annabella. I need you. I’m sor— ”
Beep. “Second new message:”
“We need to talk! You can’t just ignore me forever, Anna, God! Just pick up the phone! I lov—”
Beep. “All messages in the inbox have been deleted. You have no more new messages.”
She sat down on the soft rug in the middle of the room, dropping her cell phone as if it were covered in poison. Until further notice, it was poison. Every text, every call.
A knock at the door brought her out of her burning thoughts. With a sigh, she picked herself up off the floor. Opening the door, she saw who it was.
Him.
“Anna, God, I was so worried – you didn’t pick up my calls or answer my texts. I didn’t know where you were! Shit, I was so scared.” His eyes were red. Had he been crying?
She closed the door again, leaving him screaming and knocking loudly again in the hallway of the dorm building.
“Annabella, god damn it! We need to talk about this! Please, let me in, please! Don’t do this–”
“Go away,” she whispered, her back against the door as she slowly slid down to the floor once again. She couldn’t handle this.
His arms around another girl, his lips against her skin. His eyes widened as his gaze met her frozen look. She ran out, pulling the door closed. He called out her name.
She kept running.
“Anna, I need you so much. Please, just listen to me. I know what I did to you was horrible, and I won’t make excuses, but please, give me another chance. I don’t want you to leave me.” His voice, the voice that had comforted her, that had joked around and made her laugh, that had loved her.
Or had it? Was any of it real?
Tears didn’t fall, wouldn’t fall. “Go away,” she whispered again.
He stopped his ranting. “Did you say something? I can’t hear you, Anna, what did you say? Can you just let me in, and we can talk about this?!”
With her face in her palms, her knees hugged up to her body, and her mind closed to the world around her, Annabella just stayed where she was. Maybe… this is for the best.
—
Inspired by the song “Watcha Say” by Jason Derulo.
…Dang