seventy two hours :: lrh

due

"aspyn, why would you even get hurt?" michael rambled as he followed aspyn everywhere around their little home. well, it was pretty huge for just two people, but it wasn't exactly a mansion; it was michael's parents' old house which they restored to be their son and his future wife's house. it was beautifully designed, but aspyn felt like it just wasn't for her.  they had it all planned, you know ... their house, their cars, even their lives.

but aspyn didn't like plans; she didn't want to know what was ahead of her. she was the kind of person who loved surprises. she wasn't the good, innocent, respectful daughter her parents have always thought and she wanted to prove to them that she was old enough to make her own decisions as she was tired of them making decisions for her.

"it's not like you even loved me, right? like for real?" michael continued, and that's when aspyn felt a huge lumo grow in her throat. she stopped walking and faced him. "when i said i loved you, michael, i did."

michael's face fell down, not expecting what had come out of aspyn's mouth. "what? i thought we were just playing pretend for our parents!"

"no, you were the only one playing pretend, clifford!" aspyn raged, the back of her eyes burning as she held back her tears. "i wasn't. everything i told you was true. and i hate you for not loving me back."

she wasn't lying. her parents raised her to be an honest child, and there she was pouring her heart out to the red-haired boy with a perfect face while he never even loved her back. she loved him, way before he started hurting her. she loved him when he gave her that stupid promise ring, thinking that he meant every single word he said. of course he didn't.

they stood there in the middle of the spacious hallway, with picture frames of band posters to michael's delight, with aspyn facing the wall, silently crying to herself, while michael was facing her back, tempted to touch her shoulder and pull her to a warm embrace to let her feel that everything was going to be all right, even though he knew that it wasn't. 

"i'm sorry," michael said again for the nth time, and that sent aspyn to the edge. she turned around and wrapped her arms around michael's neck, crying her eyes out until there were no tears that fell. the tattooed boy stood there, holding her whilst silently crying to himself too. "i'm such a fucking idiot for hurting you, aspyn. i'm sorry."

and just when things couldn't get any worse, a loud honk echoed from the front porch of their house, signaling that the taxicab aspyn phoned just awhile ago before all of the fair share of cries and hugs. 

"you called a cab?" michael pulled away from aspyn, disappointment flashing evidently on his face. "what for?"

"i called my driver," aspyn wiped her tears with the palm of her hand and started to move around to find her things. "and, i'm going away. i need some time to myself."

she looked at her reflection in the mirror for the first time today, and saw that she looked like she just ran from australia to china in five seconds. her left cheek was bruised, as for her arms as well. she took of her tee shirt and went for a sweatshirt and a pair of denim jeans. she packed up earlier the day right after she saw, with her own eyes, michael banging some girl probably from the club downtown.  thinking it was the right thing to do, she built all of her courage up and walked outside their house, passing through her ex-boyfriend who made an attempt of making her stay by tickling her in her sides. it was clearly not effective.

as she strutted down the stairs of their front porch down to the pathway, he heard the door creak open and loud footsteps coming her direction. she walked faster, but her little feet were nothing compared to michael's legs that didn't seem to end. he eventually caught up to her pace and stopped her by standing in the middle of the pathway.