Trust Me, Don't Leave Me

~~Monday/Liz’s POV~~
What the hell am I supposed to do? I was thinking. It would be wrong to leave without saying goodbye to Dougie, especially since I loved him.
There was really no escaping it. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart.
But my heart was no good, it was caked in ice. An ice that was impossible to shatter, impossible to melt. An ice that had been frozen in place to keep me from pain.
My heart was his, though. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t avoid that fact.
So I stood in front of the mirror, trying to figure out what to do. I knew that he wanted to see me today, but I couldn’t let him see me again. If he saw me, if he knew I was leaving, he would try to stop me and it would hurt him that much more.
Then, somehow, I knew a way to make it easier for him.
***
Finally, I found myself on Dougie’s front porch. He would still be asleep right now, that much I knew for certain. How I had managed to fall in love with him, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know; it would just ruin it for me. For just a few days, I had known the joy of real love. I would always remember that.
I heard two faint meows, one from my cat-carrier, the other from a medium-sized box with holes in it. I set the box down on the porch and checked on the yellow kitten inside.
“Hush now, Sun,” I murmured, petting the length of his tiny body. “You’re daddy’s inside that house, but you have to hold on.” I smoothed out the little blue ribbon around his neck, the note tucked neatly under it. He curled up, his yellow eyes peeking at me as I shut the box again.
Half trembling, I pulled out a sharpie marker, writing To: Dougie From: Liz on the white box. After a moment, I drew a heart around our names.
I kind of felt bad about leaving Sun here. Star had taken quite a liking to him in the few minutes they’d been together. My cat-carrier was secured to the back of my motorcycle already, said motorcycle parked at the bottom of the steps.
Standing back up, I hesitated. All I really wanted was to stay here with Dougie. But that couldn’t be. I hadn’t even finished high school yet. I was too young for him. I felt my throat closing with tears but forced myself to calm down.
This just had to be done.
I shoved my helmet back on, pulling my gloves more securely onto my hands. I rang the doorbell and jumped onto my bike. Before taking off, I watched the door.
There—the door was opening.
I revved the engine as Emma peeked out. Her eyes instantly landed on me and she nodded sadly. I nodded in return, then turned and drove away.
As I reached the airport, my heart was already broken. I had managed to keep myself from crying, thankfully, but as I boarded, carrying my bag with me, I felt my breath hitch. Thankfully, no one else noticed.
I got the window seat and looked out at the ground. I could see them loading Star onto the plane, carefully handling the carrier. Even so, I saw one jerk his hand away from the door. Of course Star would bite or scratch them. Too bad for them.
Soon, we were taking off. When we were in the air, I could see the entire expanse of the city. Dougie was down there somewhere. I could practically see Emma bring the box in just as he would surely be running down the stairs. I could almost hear him calling out in glee, Liz! You’re here!
I could definitely feel his grief when he found out I was gone for good.
I had broken his heart, I just knew it. And I had broken my own heart, too.
I hoped, beyond hope, that he’d understand that I loved him with everything I had.
I love you, Dougie. Please understand that.
He had trusted me with his heart, and I had crushed it.