Goodnight - December 19, 2010

"You’ve given this a lot of thought, then?” she says.

    “I’ve been thinking about it…for forever.” he says it clearly and probably too loudly; they are in close proximity as usual.
   
    “Now, it hasn’t been that long since we first met…” her eyes down and to the left, staring at the stain on the carpet. He watches her shift uncomfortably and pities her, if only for her cripplingly low self esteem.

    “Let’s just go to bed.” he says with a note defeat. The morning will bring for more intricate plans of weeping to her mother on the phone and his search of legal representation. He hopes he will get the car. Driving at ludicrous speeds on the outskirts of town has been his only escape for years. She will realize, at some point, he probably loves the car more than he did her. She will think the same about this house when they decide who gets it.

    “Are you taking the couch?” she asks, sniffling.

    He stares toward the bed, made neat with the duvet folded and primp like a page from a home décor magazine. “I should just sleep here.”

    “Fine.” she says harshly and throws back the covers. Her clothes lay on a pile in the corner of the room, where they will probably stay for weeks out of the apathy of doing laundry. “But…don’t touch me.”

    He doesn’t want to touch her, he just wants to listen to the silence of the house for the last time, in the same place he has been hearing it for ten years. “I won’t.”

    They’ve shut out the lights, they’ve shut closed their eyes. They beg for sleep and try their hardest to stay separated under the covers. He soon goes back on his promise and has her tucked into him, feeling her pillow has gone damp.

    He wishes he could apologise for the relief he feels in this sudden ending.

    She wishes they were not the kind of people who can only say I love you in life or death situations.

The End 
   
-Kortnee Tilson