The End of Everything

DEREK POV:

“Derek you’re still in a funk over your fight with ‘her,’ I heard talking about it helps.” We both knew exactly whom he was talking about, but we also both agreed to eradicate her name from our vocabulary for the time being. We also knew that I refused to talk about it and Ryan can’t leave anything alone until he knows all there is to know.

“Mac…”

“Come on Derek! Everyone is wondering what happened. It’s been a week and you still haven’t talked to Aella. You haven’t scored at all. Coach is threatening to bump you down in lines. Just tell me what happened.”

I sighed, “We fought. That was it.”—Ryan sighed and threw his hands up defeat—“We broke up. I ended it.”

His hands dropped to his side as his jaw fell to the floor. He stammered for a few seconds like a fish out of water before finally saying, “But, five years. You were engaged. What did you fight about?”

I glared at him and he went silent. I wasn’t ready to disclose every piece of information that caused our break-up. If I could I would keep it a secret forever. I didn’t want to remember it.

“I have to return the key and probably get my stuff from her place before she throws it all out the window into the alley. Wanna help me?” Ryan nodded and grabbed his jacket before heading out of the door. I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and once he left the room I grabbed a small envelope before we walked to my blue two-door Lexus.

Ryan flipped through stations trying to find one without any commercials as I drove to her apartment. He was trying to fill the awkward silence growing between us. I was being too closed off and he was just trying to help me.

“You know, I’ve never seen you with another girl. It’s gonna be weird when you start dating other women.” My knuckles turned white with tension as I gripped the steering wheel.

“Stop talking like we were your parents and we just divorced. Things happen. I couldn’t control it.”

“You can get her back. It’s your choice.”

I flashed back to the fight. I had that exact line to her, ‘it’s your choice.’ It wasn’t my choice now and it wasn’t her choice then. I sighed and bit back the urge to slam my head into the steering wheel repeatedly as I pulled into the parking garage on her block.

“You don’t even know what happened Ryan. I can’t fix this, but trust me I’m still going to try to.”

I punched in the code and floor number as he silently followed me. We walked up to her door and standing in front of it I felt the urge to puke. I turned away and started walking back to the still open elevator.

“Derek what are you doing?” Ryan whisper yelled at me.

“What if she’s not home?” He rolled his eyes at me and knocked on the door himself. There was a pause then the door creaked open and I could see her shadow in the hall. Again the wave of nausea washed over me, but I pushed through it and went to her door.

“I came to drop off your key and get my stuff.” Her face fell slightly and she backed out of the doorway to let us in.

“I didn’t touch anything. All your stuff is where you left it.” She smiled at me sheepishly and I longed to return it, but instead I walked into her room. Ryan went to the bathroom and grabbed my toiletries as I riffled through drawers for my clothes.

I could feel someone behind me and I looked up into the mirror to see Aella. She looked lost among her large sweats and messy hair. I turned around to face her and felt the need to push her down beneath me on the bed that was two feet away run through my body.

“Here are the gifts you got me.” She extended the bag to me and our hands brushed. The first thing I saw in the bag was a small box that I knew held her engagement ring. She tried not to make eye contact with me as I looked back at her.

“A, you don’t have to return this stuff. I didn’t bring the gifts you got me.”

She finally met my eyes and her blue ones were steely without a glance of sorrow. “Well I’m trying to get rid of all the gifts you’ve given me by today.”

I gulped and looked down at her stomach where she had just been beginning to show. The bile I tasted in the hall rose again and I dropped the bag letting everything spill out.

“You bitch!” Her eyes widened along with her mouth as I pushed her against the wall. She looked scared and I heard Mac call my name from the bathroom.

“I’m going to make this quick. You may be able to kill what we made, but you cannot kill what we had. That will always stick with you.” She started to cry as my body pinned her against the wall. I took the envelope I had out of my pocket and tossed it at her feet. Ryan came in and pulled me away from her. He shoved me out of her room and tossed the stuff he had grabbed at me.

“Derek, what the hell was that?” He yelled. I couldn’t contain my anger. I felt it bubbling up again and turned away from Ryan before I yelled at him too. He walked back into her bedroom and grabbed the rest of my stuff before shoving me out of the apartment.

I could hear her still crying as Ryan was dragging me through the doors. “Aella, I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean it!” She went silent and the door slammed in my face.

We were back at my car within a minute and this time I was passenger as Ryan drove.

“I don’t know what the hell you said to her, but she broke.”

“So you don’t think she’ll forgive me?” Ryan didn’t even answer me. He just put the car into drive and took us to our apartment as I stared out the windshield.

AELLA POV:

I heard the door slam and quickly tried to wipe away my tears. He was gone now. The pain was gone now. I still felt empty though. I lost him and the baby today. My eyes started to fill up with the pang of loss.

I looked back to the place Derek had pinned me and saw a small white envelope. Slowly I walked over to it and bent over to grab it. I could easily feel my key in it, but there was something else in it too.

Cautiously I tore open the white paper and shook out my key and piece of smaller paper. Scrawled across it was Derek’s horrid handwriting, I sighed and started trying to decipher the words. After a few minutes I was able to tell what he had written.

I'm sorry. If you want to fix us, come talk to me at six. Mac will be out.