I fell asleep to the soothing sound of her heartbeat and the gentle rise and fall of her chest below me.

Morning came too quickly.  The sun poured through the windows and I found myself in the same position I had drifted off to sleep in hours earlier.  I had never slept so soundly; to not have even moved a muscle.  I carefully unwrapped myself from Ashley’s possessive arms, being sure not to wake her.  I tiptoed carefully around the bedroom, managing to grab a change of clothes and slipped into the bathroom unnoticed.  I scribbled a note on a piece of paper and walked quietly back into the bedroom.  She was stunning.  She had been my friend, my family, and my life for the last seven years, but she was no longer mine. 

I was unable to fully grasp the situation at hand.  I know this, because if I had, I would have done things differently.  I would have gone with her.  I would have made her stay.  I would have started a fight.  I would have told her that I loved her a million times.  I would have done something to let her know I still cared.  I would have given her any reason to believe there was still a chance.  I would have given her a reason to fight for us.  But I did not.  I slipped cowardly away in the early morning hours, leaving a note that simply said, goodbye.

            I spent that day in the coffee shop across the street from our building.  I sat there for a long time before I saw what I was waiting for.  A taxi pulled up and double parked in front of the building and the driver immediately exited the car to open the trunk.  He walked just inside the door and began carrying out large brown boxes.  I counted silently as he loaded them into the trunk.  I knew there would be five and as he was carrying out the last, I saw her.  She was struggling to carry both suitcases at the same time, which with the amount of clothes she owned, no doubt weighed more than she did.  The driver loaded them in as well.  She paused before getting in.  She looked lost.  She did not look with familiarity around the neighborhood she had lived in for the past four years. At that moment she seemed to lack the confidence and ease that was so characteristic of Ashley.  She took one last sorrowful look up at the third floor and stepped down into the cab.   She was gone.