Folie à Deux

It’s not what it seems in the land of dreams.

Anyone who knew Pete Wentz would easily say he was a great catch; so when he was hooked onto Mia’s line everyone thought she was a lucky girl. Everyone could see how happy they were together, see how well Pete treated her.

What they didn’t see, however, is that these two people were intoxicated by the mere thought of the other. When they were behind closed doors, this intoxication either became something wonderful, or something vile and destructive. Their nights would end with either Pete pushing Mia into bed, falling onto the soft mattress with satisfied sighs… or it would end with one of them pushing the other into a wall, bruises forming as they grunted in anger. It was a never ending cycle, one they had no idea how to get out of; not that either one of them wanted to get out of it. They were, of course, intoxicated by each other and never seemed able to get enough.

It’s always up and down.

Neither of them had expected something like this to actually ever happen. No one expected that Mia would leave Pete, leave him no matter how hard he pleaded or how many times he apologized, no matter how many times he reminded her of all the good times that they had shared. But all Mia could focus on were the down sides to their relationship: the fading bruises on her shoulders, the fresh bruises on Pete’s ribs, the constant wondering of when things would just be good again—wondering when they could touch each other in a tender way instead of being so brutally forceful.

So Mia left. She wasn’t sure if it would be forever or if she’d be back in Pete’s arms the next week. All she knew was that she had to get away, had to end things.

When you wake up the world will come around.

She took a suitcase of her clothes and personal items to her sister’s apartment. She hadn’t taken all of her things because even though she didn’t know what was going to happen, she at least had some reason to go back to Pete, back to the apartment they shared to see if anything would change.

Zoe tried to comfort her, and Mia tried to cry because that’s the normal thing to do when you break up with someone you love, right? But it just didn’t feel like things were over, she didn’t get any overwhelming sense of sadness that made her want to fall in a depressed heap on her sisters couch.

So she just sat there listening to her sister going on and on about how everything was going to be okay and that she was better off without him anyway. She was thankful when her sister finally went into her bedroom, leaving Mia alone. She really just needed some space to think.

Don’t worry your head, just go to sleep.