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Chapter 1

"I don't know. I can't see a happy future for us. There are things I want to do that I can't do if I am with you." The brown eye, tan skinned man I loved said to me as he reached his hand towards my arm to comfort the tears that were beginning to form in my eyes. It was the middle of July and the large baseball field was completely empty.

"What?" I couldn't manage to get more than that one word out as my whole body began to hate him.

"I don't want to move away from my family. I want them in my life as I grow older." He continued to make excuses. At this moment I knew that there was no hope for the continuation of us and I wanted nothing to do with this liar. He was the one who wanted to move away from the state and start our lives right out of high school. It became clear to me now that I was giving into the dreams he wanted to pursue, but he wouldn't give my life goals a second glance. In a month I would be starting my senior year of high school. Everyone in my class would be asking about why we broke up and even the teachers were rooting for our success. He had just graduated so I would have to be the one to face them all on my own.

"Was this all a lie?" My body began to shut down and I knew that this was my chance to make him feel awful for what he was doing to us.

"Of course not! I love you Theresa."

"What you are doing isn't love, Luis!" I snapped back.

"I don't want you to be angry with me." His statement was a lost cause. He had given me a promise ring for Christmas and I wore his bracelet around my wrist. As he spoke I slid both of them off of my hand and held them in my fist. "This isn't a decision I just thought of overnight. I thought of this all day at work and spoke with my parents when they got home."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? You had to go and bring your business up with your parents?" I wanted to bring to his attention that he had only thought about this for one day while working as a kennel cleaner at a dog facility. That isn't a reasonable time to think about breaking up with someone you had been with for over two years.

"Theresa..." he began.

I cut him off before he could say anything else, "No. You take these back." I forced him to take the bracelet and the ring. "I don't want them anymore. They only represent lies." With that I grabbed my dog's leash, got up, and started to walk back down the road towards my house, where I would have to explain the tears that ran down my face.

"You do this all the time. You just walk away!" He said loudly. I wanted to turn around yell at him for making this situation even more unbearable, but I knew this was done. He had accused me of wanting to take him away from his family when it was his idea to leave the state all along. I had lost any respect I had for him. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to. Each step I took closer to my house the harder the tears fell and the heavier the walk felt. Luis was the love of my life, and my life had just drove away. As I walked down my street I heard the car slow as he watched me walk away. He flew up the road and out of the neighborhood and that was the end of the relationship I worshiped.