Falling Apart

Chapter 21

I turn my phone off after nine missed calls from David. I continue to walk through the endless amount of trees populating the woods. I have no idea where I am but for once I feel more relaxed than I have for the past month. I step over broken tree branches littering the pine floor and enjoy the serene sounds of birds fluttering about.

I watch the wind move through the treetops and hear the occasional crickets chirping in the distance. I wipe the tears from moments ago and sit down on a tree stump. Minutes go by like hours and I think of what my life has become.

I thought I could rely on David for anything. He took care of during some of the worst days of my life. Last night felt like a nightmare; I wasn't myself. David convinced me therapy could help me, but he was wrong and I should've listened to myself. I don't need help. I'm not crazy.

"That's my tree stump." a voice from behind me scares me off of the stump and I fall to the ground. I turn around and I'm met with a pair of green eyes staring back at me. My mouth open but no words fall from them and I gawk at the man watching me. "Are you just going to sit there?" he furrows his brows together.

A noise escapes my throat and I become even more embarrassed. "I uhm," I stand. "Sorry." I look down and watch a bug crawl across my shoe.

"I haven't seen you here before." we both stand and I can feel his eyes on me.

"I sort of ran away. Kind of. I don't even know where I am right now." I smile, hoping he'll tell me.

"What were you running from?" he takes a step closer to me but I don't feel threatened.

"Just boyfriend drama. We got into a fight, I guess. He made me---"

"I didn't ask for your life story." he cuts in.

"Oh. Sorry, again." I apologize and look back down. I watch him sit down on the tree stump as he picks up a piece of pine fallen from the trees above us. He twirls it around his fingers, examining it, just as I am doing of him.

I gain confidence from nowhere and decide to talk to him. "Why are you here?"

He picks his head up and his green eyes are heightened from the amount of nature surrounding us. "There's always something to run from." his mouth moves slow and his mouth turns up in a smile.

"Well what's your name?" My phone rings as he open his mouth to tell me and I reach into my back pocket to answer the phone. "Sorry, I thought I turned this thing off." I wave my phone in front of my face.

"You've apologized three times in the past two minutes." he informs me and I almost say sorry again. Instead, I answer the phone, dreading the conversation.

As soon as I raise the device to my ear, David is frantically repeating my name. "David... David calm down." I tell him and the stranger in front of me rolls his eyes.

"Katherine, where the hell are you? I've been calling you for the past hour, driving around like an idiot after you practically jumped out of the car as I was driving!" he yells.

"And right before that, you told me I don't understand, when this is all happening to me." I chime in, lowering my voice so that the man can't hear.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. When I get frustrated, I can't even think. Please just tell me where you are and we can cool off or something." I can practically see him tugging on his hair as he drives around, searching for me.

"You can't just say things like that to me, David. You're the one that only knows half the story and you can't tell me I don't understand when in reality it's you who doesn't."