combustion

◄◄ ten

        I didn't hear from Lily after I left, not until around nine months later when I received a phone call.

        "Keaton," John, Lily's brother said. I'd only ever met him a couple of times - he'd only visit home from university every few months - and if he was going to guilt trip me about leaving, it wasn't going to work because I was guilt, the living embodiment of it.

        "Look, John. Tell Lily I'm sorry, alright? This really wasn't my choice. I'd live over there for the rest of my life with her if I could," I said into the phone, feeling tears biting at the edges of my vision.

        "Keaton," John said again, choking on his words. "Lily is dead."

        I laughed. "Stop joking. I won't fall for that."

        "You asshole, you think I'm joking? You think I'm joking? If only it was a joke," he screamed, and I froze. No, he's doing this for revenge. He's mad at you because you broke his sister's heart.

        "Enough, John." He's lying he's lying he's lying-

        "She died, Keaton!" he yelled. "And I was the only person who had the heart to call you! To let you know, because you deserve to know! You made her happy, alright, and I know that, but I am not joking, Keaton. I'm not joking." His voice crumbled into sobs and that was when the devastating reality of it all hit me.

        "N-no," I trembled. "How? What happened? How could she have..." I was still screaming in my mind for him to laugh at me cruelly, to tell me that I was an idiot for falling for it, that Lily would hate me forever. Anything over this. But John only said one thing.

        "Lily died during childbirth," he said.