How NOT to end the world

.•° ✿Butterfly weed✿ °•.

RAFE

Outside, the place doesn't feel lived in. It feels for sale, the windows are clean and the inside already seems empty. Koi liked a maximalist style when we were dating. I drive through the gravel driveway, into the door. I knock, and hear Jules pull up behind me.

An older man opened the door. His finger nails were dirtied with grit, and his beady eyes looked down at me like another hard project.

"What do you want?"

I open my mouth to speak, but I see movement. Koi.

"I need to speak with your son."

"Who are you?"

"I am his old roommate. I need some details about stuff he left behind."

I chuckle, tightening my grip on the bike. I feel my breathing start to pick up.

"..."

He moves aside.

The place seems empty like the outside. Just...nothing. Bare grey walls lined the rooms as I walked through. The man points me to Koi's room, which is tucked away.

"Koi? Sweetheart?"

I call, swinging on the doorframe like i normally do in the flat.

I flinch away from the word covered walls-faintly inhaling sharpie. Doodles and thoughts and names all choked up the space. Soft toys and rounded items covered the floor, while a set of notebooks were stacked on a slinky nightstand. Which felt out of place. Koi sat on their bed, looking down and holding something. A slight tremble seemed to rack their body. I want to hug them.

"Whats wrong?"

They shook their head.

"Are you in your big space?"

They nodded, gesturing me to sit.

"I've been waiting just like you have," They said quietly, fiddling with the metal ends, "I know this whole experience must be hard for you. You have to keep reliving this. But I have to see the destruction."

They stopped there, like the memory was too painful. They handed me the book.

"Do you hate him." Like I do, I said, leaving out the last part.

"You mean Jules?"

I nod. They shifted into my shoulder.

"No. He did nothing wrong. It was me, and he's proven his remorse," they paused almost looking at me, "to both of us."

I nodded.

"Do you...Do you want me to start visiting again?"

The room quietened. After the incident, Koi sent a message to me about giving them space. So, I did. I haven't seen my partner in 9 months, because of Jules. So, maybe we can be together again. I need us to be together.

"No. I need time, and we don't have alot of it. So, I think I will come to you. I am breaking up with you, Rafe. Because with the amount of time I think I need, I don't want to take your life away from you. So use my gift, and let us get through this."

Months. Months of waiting, and when I finally see them, this is what i get?

"You can't be serious."

Koi flinched, ripping themself off me.

"You-You fucking-"

I inhale, grabbing at my face.

"You make me wait for months, you disappear, and i come back and you just end it? Just like that? What happens when time runs out? What happens if this-" I tap the book, "Doesn't work? We all just die. You and me, we never got back together. Would you even regret it? No because its all about you. Am I not worth it?"

I grab him.

"You ungrateful re-"

Ear piercing. And ear piercing scream shoots through me. Koi screams, writhing from under me. I drop him, adrenalin shaking me to the core. What did I just do?

"What?"

The man storms in, wrecking everything in his path. He grabs my wrist, violently pulling me outside, getting in my face about...what just happened.

"And don't come back you fuckin pycho-leave my son alone!"

He yelled, slamming the door.

I picked up my bike, and bit down hard on the notebook, sobbing tears I couldn't identity. Greif. Anger. I was riding, I didn't know where. I didn't even notice the elevator shift bellow my feet.