Nothing's Going To Change My World

This is the way the world will end. Not with a bang, but with a flash. A flash so bright and brilliant darkness won't fall for next 2 weeks. National Front had it up to here with North Korea. North Korea would no longer stand to be bullied around by America and Britain. The Middle East hated everyone. The rest of the world were too dependent of foreign resources to stand up for themselves.

Jump ahead 3 years in our story to moments before the world will end. Jump ahead in the story about my relationship with Abbey Valmont. Jump past our extensive list of firsts shared together. Jump past the day we moved into a small flat in Noe Valley. Keep on going right past our secret dresser drawer full of wedding magazines we were too scared to have in plain sight. Jump past Sawyer being hit by a car and losing vision in one eye. Jump past the fighting, arguing, and late nights spent crying. Jump straight on through the lowest low where we didn't think we'd ever make it back on top.

Jump to October 30, 2020.

Abbey and I were having an off couple of days. Well, more like an off couple of months. We had been fighting a lot and things seemed harder to keep up than they had before. Sadly, it's not an uncommon thing to happen in all relationships. After the first year of a relationship, it takes more work to keep the sparks still flying. The rosy glasses are removed and you start to see your lover as a real person. A real person full of flaws, mistakes, insecurities and differences from you. It takes a lot more work to look past those things and remember to see the person you fell in love with.

The 29th had been one of our late-night fighting episodes. If you asked me now, I wouldn't be able to tell you what the fight was about. Dirty dishes? Money? Family? That's how it was for most of our fights. It was probably something little that snowballed into the catastrophe it became. Neither one of us could put on the brakes and stop ourselves.  After every fight we promised over and over that we'd stop ourselves and just hold one another until we could calmly talk. It rarely worked. On this night we screamed at each other until our voices were hoarse. We screamed in the living room, in the kitchen, even through the bathroom door. Sawyer made himself scarce as he hid inside my dirty clothes hamper in the closet. It wasn't until early into the morning that we finally collapsed on the bed. We were both completely exhausted with tired, puffy, red eyes, raw throats, and pounding headaches. We slept next to each other, but the loving touch that once bound us together each night was missing.

When I awoke the next morning, I didn't feel Abbey's body between the sheets. I didn't hear the shower running, or the clicking sound of her laptop keys. I wiped my hand across her side of the bed. It wasn't quite warm, but it wasn't completely cold. After I pulled myself out of bed, stepped into my slippers and gave Sawyer an apologetic look, I walked into the living room. Abbey wasn't there. Her shoes and jacket were gone. Her car keys weren't on the hook. I couldn't find her phone or wallet. My mind raced as I thought of the worst possible scenarios that could have happened. Where had she gone? Was she okay? Who was she with, a friend? Another girl? Please, don't let it be another girl. 

I walked over to the kitchen table. A single white sheet of paper was set square in the middle. In Abbey's handwriting was the note, "I'm going to make this all up to you. I love you."