hell and back ◇ lrh.

:: prologue ::

DAY 632. 

She always knew in the deepest pit of her heart that this day was destined to come the moment her lips molded with his.

She knew he was bad for her. She knew it was inevitable that she would become addicted to the poison he spit down her throat. Hell, even he knew it. But not even that could stop them from digging their own graves.

She struggled to see the Luke she fell in love with behind his bloodshot eyes and all the empty bottles. She knew he was in there, since he came out every so often to apologize for making the same mistakes.

Just as he was now.

"Would you stop fucking packing?" Luke raises his voice, the seriousness of the situation suddenly sets in. He gently reaches for her wrists, pulling them towards his chest to prevent her from shoveling more of her items into the black suitcase. "Mel, what is going on?" His voice cracks, fear is revealed in his voice.

"I'm leaving, Luke." Mel tells him softly. The pain she felt as those words fell out of her mouth was comparable to a thousand knives puncturing an open wound. "For real this time." She clarifies.

Mel was only human. She had tried so hard to make things work between them, but he always found a way to disappoint her and she was exhausted.

Luke throws his hands into the air, throwing the black suitcase Mel was filling onto the already cluttered floor. He hops off the bed as he paces around their bedroom, trying to get a grip on what was happening. "How can you stand there and say that to me?"

Mel looked at the floor, holding back tears with all of her might. "Please, Luke, don't make this any harder than it already is." She begs him. Mel wipes at her eyes and grabs her suitcase off the floor, trying to haul all her items back inside. Luke watches in disbelief as Mel frantically shovels random things into the suitcase, tripping over cords and amp wires as she struggles to do so.

He sucks in a deep breath, placing his hands on her shoulders. She was crying. "Mel, look at me."

She shakes her head. Seeing the pain in his face would only destroy her more.

"Baby, look at me." He repeats, more demanding this time. Luke lifts her chin with two fingers and brushes a piece of her hair from her forehead behind her ear.

Luke gets ahold of her clammy hands, holding them tightly as he speaks. "It doesn't have to end like this, Melanie. We can fix this." She could hear the desperation in his voice without having to look at him through her tear-clouded eyes.

"We can't." She croaks, wiping at her cheeks. "We already tried to make this work, Luke, and we failed."

"We can keep trying." Luke slides both of his thumbs under Melanie's eyes trying to make all her tears go away. "I know I can be an idiot sometimes and that I've done things that have hurt you. I know I can get really angry when I'm drunk to the point where you wish we never met. And, fuck, I know I've done things to hurt you that I wish I could take back every day. But damn it, Mel, none of that shit means I love you any less."

Her eyes were glimmering with dampness as she absorbed Luke's words. "You know I love you, Luke, and that's why we need to do this." She pushes past him, unable to look at her only love in the eye.

Luke was silent. His breathing was heavy and sharp as he followed Melanie around the apartment as she stormed off. He knew she was going to say something else and he had a feeling it would be painful for the both of them.

She stops in her tracks, finding Luke only a few inches behind her. His eyes were damp, but no tears were visible.

Melanie had never seen Luke cry, nor did she ever want to. This was the closest thing to it and the sight of him hurting made her gut wrench.

He was wearing a gray t-shirt stained with her tears and a pair of black jeans she had bought him. Bags sat under his pale eyes, and his full lips were chapped and bloodied. A part of her just wanted to kiss him, and tell him she loves him more than anything in this fucked up world, but she can't. She had done that too many times.

Instead she delicately wraps herself around his large body, in a long warm embrace and whispers in his ear, "You destroyed me, Luke, I need time to heal."

Melanie had been to hell and back with Luke, trying to sew back together the seams of their once perfect love story. But things were different now. They were different now. Both of their hearts deserved a break.

"I never meant to fuck everything up." Luke admits, holding her small body tightly in his arms.

She nods, "I know," Melanie picks her suitcase off the floor and slams it on the bed, using all her weight to cram the items inside so she could zip it up.

"Promise me something." She says, holding the suitcase at her side.

Luke's blue eyes perk up, "Anything."

"Don't blame yourself."

He tugs at the roots of hair, "But it is, Mel, and I can't forgive myself for the shit I put you through. If I hadn't been so busy lately things would be different, you wouldn't be leaving me. I know I've been a distant jealous fuck lately but I can't help or explain the shit in my head. I should have paid closer attention, Mel, I'm so sorry that I couldn't love you the way you deserve to be loved." Luke vents as tears quickly slip down her cheeks.

She looks up at him, "And I believe you, Luke, I do. We just need time apart. It isn't healthy to always be at each other's throats."

Luke swallows hard and plays with her fingers, "How much time?"

"I don't know." Melanie nuzzles her head into his shoulder. "But this is not goodbye." She wipes under her eyes.

Luke repeats the hopeful sentence in his mind, slowly nodding. A brief silence passes as he grabs the back of her neck and pulls her lips to his, pouring everything he had left into the kiss. Luke cups his hands around her cheeks, hanging onto their last moment together with all the love in the world he felt for her. Their lips move together for minutes, until she pulls away.

"Someday we'll meet again, Luke. Maybe then we'll be better for each other."