right where you left me

chapter two

Present Day

George stared at the gray-and-purple screen of the Discord application. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of unchecked, red notifications flashed in his face, making his hands sweat a little. It felt like opening a time capsule as he went through each server and private message, reading through a life he'd pressed 'pause' on three years ago.

He finally pressed his 'friends' list.

When he first left, George had gotten rid of his phone altogether. He'd taken a trip personally to London, looked out at the murky water of the 'Thames, and tossed away his whole life. The device sunk straight down to the bottom, adding to the rest of the pollution that swam through the city.

To be completely honest, it wasn't as freeing as he thought it was going to be. Phones are way more useful than he thought they were. A few weeks later, he'd taken a walk-of-shame to the Apple Store and bought himself a new one, changing his number instead.

Now he was back, reading through old D.M's and forgotten promises, eyes slightly teary as he did it.

George scrolled to the bottom of the list, pressing the contact of someone he thought he never would've spoken to again.

Holding his breath and praying for courage, he clicked the call button.

"George?"

"Hello, Quackity."

-

-

One Year Ago: Brighton, England

"So that's it?" Elise screamed at him, mascara running down her cheeks in fat, wet clumps. Even in her distraught state, George marveled at the way she still managed to look so beautiful. "You're just going to end it?"

George ran a hand through his hair, trying (and failing) to hide tears of his own, "C'mon Elise. You should've seen this coming."

She marched over, jabbing a neatly manicured finger into his chest. It hurt a little, but he didn't react as she cried, "No, George. I shouldn't have seen this coming. Nobody in the whole fucking world falls in love with people and then runs away!"

"I'm sorry, Elise."

"Why?" She fell to her knees, but George still remained standing, biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you doing this to us ? You said you loved me!"

George didn't say anything, watching as she broke in front of him. After a few minutes, she looked up at him with her lips quivering, brown eyes welling up salty water. "Did you love me, George? Just tell me the truth."

"I did love you," he sighed. He finally crouched in front of her, lifting her chin up with one hand, using the other to brush her freshly–done braids out of her face. "I still do."

"Was it real?"

"It was, and always will be. There was never a doubt in my mind about the two of us."

"Why are you doing this," she whispered. "After everything, you're just going to throw it all away?"

George shook his head and moved his hands behind her back. He slowly pulled Elise in, lifting her onto his lap, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. They stayed like that, quiet sobs ringing into his warm body as George tried his hardest not to fall apart.

"Please," she begged one last time, but there was no more energy behind it.

"I'm sorry."

Shakily, he lifted the both of them off of the floor, laying Elise down on the couch as he moved to put his shoes on. The sun had long set by now, and a tiny part of him wanted to stay until it rose— to share one more night together before the day came and he needed to run again.