The Final Goodbye

Have you ever been betrayed in the most unexpected way? It is so painful because you refuse to believe that it is actually happening. Last year, I broke up with my boyfriend after realizing that we did not work well together, I did not love him, and I thought he felt the same way. We were together for over a year, and after countless fights, it no longer felt like we were fighting to stay together. It was frustrating because we have so much love for each other and only want to be together. But in the end, that was no longer the case.

“What are we even fighting about, Logan?” I had asked him,

He stared back at me, speechless. “I don’t know…”

The two of us locked eyes, and I knew. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.” He whispered, “Abby, I love you. Please, don’t do this.” He had said, desperately pleading with me, but I had to do it.

“I– I can’t be with you anymore.”

“Abby.” I watched as his heart broke. I thought he felt the same way; I thought he could feel the separation between us.

“Logan, I am breaking up with you. I can’t do this anymore, I cannot fight for nothing anymore. I don’t see a future with us anymore.”

“Please,” He cried. I had seen him cry multiple times before, but this time he collapsed in front of me. Logan had fallen onto his knees and wrapped his muscular arms around my legs. I placed my hands on his quivering shoulders. “Don’t leave me, Abby. I love you.”

“You deserve someone who loves you back,” I whispered, prying my legs out of his arms. “You have been such a great boyfriend, but I–”

“No!” He screamed and tried to crawl closer towards me. “I love you,”

“I know.” I grabbed onto his arms and helped him up to his feet. “I’m sorry.”

He stared back at me, “We have a class together next semester.” He sniffled,

My heart lurched out of my chest because I knew what he wanted to ask. “I remember.”

“Do you want me to drop it?”

I shook my head, “We both need this class to graduate. I am not dropping it, and I won’t ask you to either. It’s your decision.”

He nodded. “I’ll let you go then. But if you ever need me, please reach out.”

And that was that, or so I thought.

We continued to text casually with one another for the entirety of winter break. It was nice, it felt like all the drama was behind us. Eventually, classes started up again, and the two of us were in the same creative writing class along with one of my other friends, Alyssa. Logan and I sat on opposite sides of the room at first. I sat with Alyssa. But Logan slowly inched his way closer to me as the weeks went on. I didn’t mind this at first, that was because I trusted him not to do anything rash.

“Okay, guys!” Our professor called to the class, “This next assignment, you each will take turns submitting a short story between nine and fifteen pages to the class. It can be a fictional story of whatever you would like. One story will be chosen before each class, you will submit your story, and then your fellow classmates will make corrections. I will also make my own corrections. Please include an artist statement as well. Now log into your email and find the sign-up sheet!”

I did as we were told and signed up for a slot two weeks away; Logan signed up for the week after me. After class, I began to head back to my dorm.

“Alright, I’ll see you later, Alyssa!” I waved to my friend and started to walk away when Logan stopped me.

“Abby!”

“Logan,” I swallowed hard.

“Can I walk you back to your dorm?”

I nodded yes.

“I know we texted a bit over break, but I was wondering how you were doing.”

I smiled at him, "I've been good, what about you?”

He nodded back softly, "I've been good too.”

“That’s great,” We continued to walk in silence, but it didn’t feel awkward; it felt normal. We were able to pick things up where we left off.

When I got back to my dorm, my roommate Lily was staring at me, arms crossed over her chest. She said disappointingly, “So, tell me why, when I looked out the window, I saw you and that blonde-haired man walking together!”

I blushed, “He was being nice, and that blonde-haired man has a name.”

Lily tossed a dark curl over her shoulder. “He is the devil and deserves nothing!”

I chuckled and climbed up on my lofted bed to look down at her. “I promise, I can handle myself with him.”

She sat on top of her desk to look up at me. “Fine!” She huffed.

This routine continued for the next few weeks. Logan was as sweet as can be, bringing me coffee and walking me back and forth to class with no expectations from me. I thought we could become friends, but that was until it was time to read his essay for our class.

Bzzz Bzzz

I looked down at my phone to see a text from Alyssa.

ALYSSA:

Read Logan’s story.

Now.

ABBY:

Why?

ALYSSA:

Read his story.

I was sitting at my desk, and my breath began to shake. I opened another tab on my computer to prepare to take notes on his story, “The Final Goodbye.” I smiled to myself. He was always a great writer, and I was actually excited to read it. That was until I read the first two character names. Daphne and Owen. My heart plummeted into my stomach. When we were dating, we had been talking about marriage and what our future would be like… including baby names. For example, if we had a girl, we would name her Daphne, and if we had a boy, we would name him Owen. I thought that this had to be a coincidence. He had written in Daphne’s point of view over the story, and as I read on, I could feel my stomach lurching.

This could not be happening, no, no. Tears welled up in my eyes, and my hands shook as I read on. He had written the story of our breakup: “I had no will to live, I knew that I was nothing without Owen and decided to break up with him to see if I could do better.”

“Lily.” My voice quivered.

She looked up from her desk, “Abby– are you crying?” She sprang up from her seat as I began to read aloud.

“I could smell his cologne, that intoxicating scent. He looked so handsome, I made a mistake breaking up with him.”

“What is this?” She asked, leaning over me to try to read my computer. “We were at his dorm, a place where I knew I had ruined his memory of his bed forever. He could no longer sleep in that bed without thinking of me, of our intimacy, of our love. I had told him I never loved him, but–”

I cut her off, finishing it myself. “But I knew that if this was going to be the end, I was going to take one last thing for myself.” I stood up from my desk, and I could hear the wooden chair collapse behind me as it hit the ground.

“What are you reading?” Lily asked, now standing in front of my computer, to read on.

“This is Logan’s submission to our class, it’s his version of our breakup from my point of view, named after our future children and–”

“Did you finish the story?” She asked, slowly turning to me.

“No- no– why?” I asked, now pacing around our room.

Her eyes looked at me in horror. “He wrote you guys…”

“What?” Tears rolled down my cheeks, heated and burning my skin.

“He wrote a sex scene.”

“He did what!” I screamed, shoving her away from my computer. My eyes raced down the page as the illuminated screen glowed back at me, and the words bounced around and created a jumble in my head. He had written our intimacy for everyone, including our teacher, to read. “I was now on top of him when a pounding knock came at the door. I rolled off of him and waltzed to the door, taunting him with my body. I opened the door, not caring who saw me. I heard the noise before I saw the man.”

This time, I screamed incoherent nonsense.

“He kills you in the essay!” Lily’s voice echoes in the room.

I stumbled back onto my closet doors, barely able to stand up, and clutched my head in my hands. “Give me my phone.”

Lily grabbed the hot pink phone from my desk and brought it over to me. “What are you going to do?” She peered over me to watch as I called him.

He answered on the first ring. “Abby.”

“What is wrong with you?” My voice cracked into the phone.

“So.” He chuckled, amused, “You read my essay.”

“How could you do this to me? I thought we were on good terms. This is a betrayal!”

“You betrayed me first when you broke up with me!” He yelled back, “Besides, I thought you would be flattered; it shows how much I love you.”

I dropped my phone and began to hyperventilate.

Lily picked up the phone. She said to him, “If you’re smart, you’ll delete Abby’s number.”

Then she sat down with me, “Hey, you didn’t deserve that, he’s a jerk.”

“I have to go to class tomorrow!” I cried. After that, I went back to text Alyssa.

ALYSSA:

Is’t bout u right?

ABBY:

Is it obvious??

ALYSSA:

Do u want the truth :((

ABBY:

Yes.

ALYSSA:

I already got texts from others in our class

They were asking if it was u

Without another word, I threw my phone across the room, no doubt breaking the screen. The guy I once trusted most in my life had now ruined any respect I had left for him. He ripped my heart from my chest and crushed it without even having to be near me. It was a power move to show that he could still get to me. His betrayal gave him power over me; he could make me cry one last time. His underhanded actions made me protect my heart, and it has been hard to love again.