Millcient’s fault

One: rape, secondary characters and pointy sticks.

I wish I was smarter. Oh, God, I really, really wish I was smarter, especially on a day like this. Nothing is going the way I wanted it to go. How could I predict this outcome? It does not make sense. It's crazy. My brain is working as fast as it can trying to find a way out of this situation that I managed to get myself into.

Why did I have to be so stubborn and, again, stupid? I am hiding behind a big tree, but they will find me, and then I will be dead. Damn it. Breathe, just breathe.

All I can do is think back to where it all started. The day I saw Millie for the first time. 

You would think that a girl with the name Millicent would be a well behaved, A+, polo shirt and skirt girl. But oh no, Millie was a fire starter, D-, ripped jeans and combat boots girl.

I knew she was trouble, but you know how girls always say that they love bad boys and they always choose the wrong ones; well, I guess I might be a girl in that department because I sort of like bad girls, specially because I am not a bad boy. I am a nerd who tries a LOT to be cool, so sometimes I might look cool, but at the end of the day I am nerdish and probably will never really fit into a specific category of a teenager.

I was hanging out in the woods when I heard footsteps right behind me, I tensed my grip on the branch I was using just a few seconds before as a “pretend sword”. I usually hang alone in the woods because no one wants to hang there, probably because its a creepy place and 10 years ago a girl got raped and killed there. I like the woods because I like trees and silence, and usually when I am there I try to forget that an innocent girl was beaten to death, because it’s not a nice thing to remember.

So of course I was surprised when I heard that someone else was there with me. I almost peed myself when I cautiously turned, and made a weird strike-swing with the branch, and saw cute girl, with the small flaw of wearing a lot of eyeliner, standing there and staring at me. I recognized her face from school.

I didn’t know her name, because I was a senior and she was a junior, and she always hanged with the “wrong crowd”.

“What the hell!” I screamed at her. “You should know better that to sneak on people, I could have killed you”.

“What, you? Kill me, with a branch? Pleaaase” she said with a clear tone of sarcasm in her voice. “So, what are you doing at the woods all by yourself?”

“Me?” I answered with a question, a really stupid one since she was clearly talking to me, the only person around for miles.

She just rolled her eyes.

“I just like to hang here, its quiet, and nice.”

“Aren’t you scared that you are going to get killed?, I mean they never found the killer of that poor girl” she said with a cryptic voice.

“Neh” I answered truthfully “that was a looong time ago”.

“Yeah, you are right” she said. She started walking in my direction, and without my permission, or any indication of what she was going to do, she kissed me. And when I mean she kissed me, I mean she really kissed me, with all the heat of her body and soul.

In that moment I could not think, or move, or breathe, it was all too weird and incredible. And then she just stopped kissing me and moved away. I just stood there watching like a moron with my mouth still opened.

“That was good” she said.

“Yes” I answered, and finally awkwardly moved.

“You are Josh, right?”

“How do you know my name?”

“I just do, I’m Millie, Millicent, well it was nice meeting you, see ya’ ”

And with that, the girl turned around and left me with a wet mouth, a boner and a branch-sword in my hand. Millicent. That firecracker, tease of a girl.

That kept on happening. I would encounter Millie out in the woods and we would kiss and talk, but mostly kiss. When we would meet on school grounds she would barley look at me, she passed me by in the corridors surrounded by her heavy eyeliner group of friends and she would crack a small, a barley visible smile if she “accidently” brushed her shoulder against mine. But that was it.

One day I decided to confront her about this situation. We were kissing and we stopped for a second to catch our breaths. That was when I took my chance.

“Millie, so why do you ignore me in school?”

“What do you mean?” she said while she placed her sweaty hand on top of mine.

“You know what I mean”.

“I though we were on the same page”

“And what page is that?” I asked, afraid of the answer, because I kind of already knew what she was going to say.

“The page where we are just secondary characters in our stories, we meet up here, we learn about our hormones, we explore our mouths and bodies but we don’t have anything serious, we soon will just be a memory for the other. I will be that girl you used to fuck in the woods and you will be the guy that had a boner every time I kissed him”.

I swallowed. That was way too much information for just one conversation. Did she say fuck? Was she going to let me have sex with her? When? And how could she know about my private parts getting overly excited?, I mean sure, she noticed a couple of times, but not everyone one of them. Did she?

“So” Millie said interrupting my train of thought, “We are on the same page, right?”

“Yes, yes” I said. And quickly started kissing her again, because:

1. I wanted to end this embarrassing moment .

2. I was extra horny because she said she would have sex with me.

And she did let me, that very same day I had sex for the second time in my life, while being surrounded by crunching leaves, pointy sticks, countless bugs and, probably, the ghost of a raped and murdered girl.

After having sex with Millicent I realized that I was not okay with the page she wanted us to be at. I didn’t want to be a secondary character in her story, because she was clearly not one in mine. So that is how I started my plan, which I called ‘The plan were I get Millie to fall in love with me’.

I must admit it was an ill-advised plan, especially since now I am hiding in the woods, waiting for a terrible outcome of my well-being. Anyway, back to the plan. If I was going to win the love of my dear girl I need to be everything she wanted a man (her man) to be.

Two: split personalities and wishes.

The worst thing about not getting what you want is... actually, not getting what you want. Have you ever wanted something so much that the more it drifts away the more you hold on to it? My relationship with the infamous Millicent was exactly like that. The more I tried, the more I felt like I was losing her. At some moment I knew that I was probably holding on too tight and that she was hating me for it, but I couldn't stop myself, I was a man (well, boy) with a plan, a purpose, a goal, and I just couldn't give up. I tried almost everything, I wanted to become the guy she wanted.

I am about to list the different personalities I tried on to achieve her love: 

1. The romantic: "Oh, Millie, your eyes shine like the moon". "Oh, Millie, your hair is softer than threads made my magic fairies". "Oh, Millie, your perfect round breasts move beautifully when your are on top of me". 

2. The best friend: "So tell me, how was your day?". "Are you still mad at your parents after they grounded you when they found your bong?". "Is Stephanie still dating Paul?". "Do you need help for your math homework?".

3. The bastard: "Just sit down, shut up and take off your shirt". "You better apologize for that, now". "That was a stupid thing to say". "Geez, don't be such a girl, just blow me and let's go".

4. The indifferent dude: "Aha". "Yeah". "Sure." "Whatever." 

5. The admiring fan: "You look amazing today". "That thing you did with your tongue was un-fucking-belivable." "You should wear your hair down more often, you look very hot".

Yes, I know, how lame. Why couldn't I just be myself? Well, my real self wasn't that much interesting, and to be totally honest I was very good at playing different roles, sometimes I even thought I could become the person I was playing. But in the end, none of them worked. 

After 3 months of our regular meetings on the forest for sex and my ongoing staged charades, Millie have had enough.

"Im done, Josh" she said while she put one her black shirt. 

"What do you mean?" I asked stupidly. 

"With you, I mean what the hell! Do you have like split personalities?, one day your are sweet and the next you are a douche-bag and the next week you are caring and involved. I just don't get you."

I was stunned, I really thought this would work. I mean, I thought that I would get a reaction from her with one of my "personalities" as she called them, and then I would choose that and stick to it until she fell in love with me. But the thing was that she just acted the same, the unattached, just here for sex Millicent. I felt betrayed, well, cheated, because I wasn't done with my experiment, I had to find out what she liked to achieve what I wanted. I had to. 

"I.... I", I wasn't able to finish the sentence because Millie was done getting dressed and just like that she left. I could hear the leaves crushing as she walked away from me, I could hear the intensity of my breathing as I tried, and failed, to say something, call after her. Apologize. Just stop her. I wanted her here with me.

And then I just sat there in the woods waiting for Millie to come back, it wasn't until it started to get dark that I realized that she probably wasn't coming back, but I still didn't leave. It was getting cold so I took the blanket we used to fuck on and I made a little cocoon for myself.

The night animals started to come out and make creepy noises, I couldn't see ahead of me, the only light came from the moon and stars. I wanted to move, but I couldn't, I was strangely comfortable.
A crack noise made me jump. I suddenly felt like I was being watched by someone or something. Goosebumps spread all over my arms and spine. And it was at that moment that I realized that it was probably not a good idea to be at the forest at night, I was about to get up and leave when a sweet girlish voice came from behind me.

"Hi."
I quickly stood up and turned. Right there in front of me was girl. She looked around 15 or 16, she had blonde hair, blue eyes and she was the palest person I had ever laid my eyes on.
"Hi" I answered back.
She moved her head slightly to the right and she analyzed me.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, as she took some steps toward me. Her big blue eyes looked scared.
"I don't know, just hanging I guess." I took a step back, it wasn't a conscious thing to do I just didn't want my personal space invaded by the pale girl. She looked a little offended.
"I'm Cara".
"Josh."
"Nice to meet you, Josh."
"Nice to meet you, Cara."

Her shoulders relaxed. "Are you lost?" she asked.
"I don't think so, I mean, I'm sure I can make my way back just fine."
"The forest is a dangerous place, you shouldn't be here alone at night."
"Well, then you also shouldn't be here alone." I said to her while I picked up the blanket that had fallen to the ground and wrapped it around myself again.
"Yeah." She answered in a patronizing kind of way.
"The truth is, I am waiting for someone."
"For who?", she asked, her eyes opened up a little bit more, like she was again taking an interest in me.
"A girl."
"A girl?"
"Yes, Millie"
"Millie?"
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?" I asked, slightly irritated.
"Sorry" she said, staring at her hands embarrassed. "So, do you love this girl?".
"I do" I said, surprising myself a little by how quickly I answered.
"That is nice. Does she love you back?".
I took a deep breath. There it was, the big question. Do the girl you love loves you back?
"I don't think she does" I said. She looked sad when I said this. She sighted.
"I know how that feels". She started to walk around me, while staring at her feet.
"I could help you, you know". She said after a while.

"Really?, how?"
"I could grant you a wish".
"A wish, what are you, a genie?" I answered sarcastically. All of this seemed ridiculous. What was I doing talking in the middle of the forest, at the middle of the night, to this creepy bambi-eyes girl?
She laughed, "A genie?, nah, Im just a ghost."

I gulped, a ghost? The goosebumps came back. A GHOST? This was freaking me out. She looked at me and must have seen the terror in my eyes because she smiled, a sweet calming smile.
"Don't freak out, Im not and evil ghost".
"Are you playing with me?" I asked. "I mean, this just cant be true, either I fell asleep and I'm dreaming or you are just fucking with me."
"I'm not" she said, reassuringly. She then approached me, she extended her hand to me. "Here, touch me."
"What?" I asked, freaking out.
"Touch me." She said calmly.
I moved my hand slowly into hers. Puff. Nothing. My hand didn't find hers, it just went trough like air. No. This can't be. I did it again. The same thing happened. She was here, but she was not there. I couldn't touch her. She was a ghost, alright.

"See" she said as she looked right into my eyes.
My mouth felt dry, "So you are a ghost" I said.
"I think we just established that", she answered as she backed away from me.
"So do you want your wish or what?"

Wait a minute, I needed to think. I was pretty sure that if this was really happening I shouldn't be accepting wishes, o whatever, from a ghost. She probably was the ghost of the girl that was raped and murdered, it all sounded extra creepy to me. I was trying to remember the name of the dead-raped girl, was it Cara? I really had no idea. I should take more notice in the gossip of our town. Was it possible that this poor lost soul was willingly trying to help me in my love life?

And then Millie crossed my mind. I had tried everything and nothing had worked. I wanted Millicent to love me. And here, right in front of me, I had the possibility of making that happen. Sure, I mean, it was being offered by a girl, who was a ghost, but still.

"Ok". I said "I want a wish."

Three: getting what you want. 

"You have to say it out loud".
"Ok, just give me a second." I think about what I am about to say, I mean I don't want to screw up, if I get it wrong then I don't think I´ll have a second chance.
"Im ready."
"Go ahead. Say it".
I licked my lips, they tasted salty. "I want Millicent to love me."
Cara closed her eyes, and a second later she opened them again.
"Done."
"Just like that?" I asked surprised.
"Yes."
"How can I know it's true."
"Well, you will know soon enough."
Can all of this really be happening?, I mean really. Cara and I just stand there awkwardly, I don't know what's the next move. Should I leave, make small talk, ask her how she died, ask her is she was murdered and most important: who killed her? While I am mulling this over, she moves.
"Well, thats my cue. Good bye, Josh". She turned to leave.
"Wait" I yelled.
"Yes?" she asked turing again to face me.
"That is it?"
"Yeah, you only get one wish, don't over do it".
"No. What I meant is, will I ever see you again?" I ask.
"We will see. Bye."

And she was gone. Drifting away into the heart of the forest. My new ghost-sort of genie-pale-girl friend. I shivered and started my way back home. Hoping I wouldn't encounter another ghost.

The next morning I woke up in a haze. Knowing that what happened the night before hadn't been a dream. My muddy shoes, the wrinkled blanket, my still salty lips and my good memory were proof that I was indeed late at night in the forest with Cara.

I proceeded to perform my morning rituals and make my way to school. I wandered the halls looking for her, I need to know if it had worked. And then I saw her, walking beside Stephanie giggling about something, I wished I knew what. She let her eyes wander into the crowded halls and then then she saw me. Her eyes lighted up. She started running towards me. When she finally met up with me she jumped and embraced me screaming in a high pitchy voice "Baaabbbbbyyyyyyy". And she proceeded to kiss me eagerly in front of everyone.

"I missed you" she said, again, her voice a few decibels higher than her normal voice.
"I dreamt of you all night, and when I woke up I thought of you all morning, and here you are".
She started pinching my cheeks like a crazy aunt meeting her nephew for the first time.

In all the haze and shock all I managed to say is "Millicent". A flash of confusion crossed her face.
"Millicent?" she asked, "Are you mad at me baby boo?, why are you saying my name like that?"
"Im not mad" I said. In fact I am the opposite of mad, I am ecstatic. It had worked! Millie loved me!
"You are acting weird" she said "Are you breaking up with me? Oh my God!"
People started to turn and look at our direction because of the unnecessary drama she was creating.
"No, no, baby" I said tentatively. "Everything is fine". She looked unsure.
"Look at me" I said. "I love you".
She smiled. "Oh, Joshy, I love you too." We kissed. It felt fucking awesome.

And so the roller-coaster of Joshua and Millicent as an official loving couple began. I feel happy. Millie wanted to be with me. We spend almost every waking hour together. We kissed a lot, and we made love a lot (you see, when you love someone, and that someone loves you back, you don't just fuck, you make love), we laughed together and talked. It was great... until it wasn't.

I slowly started to get tired. She was the girl I felt in love with, but she wasn't. She was suddenly very girlish and clingy, and dramatic, and in a lot of moments, kind of annoying. I started to get suffocated. Everywhere I turned, there she was. Craving for my attention and if I didn't give it to her, she became this love-hungry-psychotic-gremblin creature.

One day it was too much for me to handle.
"I can't fucking breathe!" I yelled at her on a Monday afternoon after she wants to lie on top of me while we each read our favorite book, A Tale of Two Cities. She said it will bring us much closer.
I pushed her to get of. That was the wrong move. She immediately looked extremely sad. Then she started crying.

"You (sniff) don't (sniff) looooove me anymore (sniff)".
I had little patience for that kind off drama that day. "I do love you, but you are suffocating me, Millie, you need to realize that".
"Nooooo you don't (sniff). You hate me (sniff)". I needed to move, stand up.
"Jesus fucking Christ, stop it". She stared at me blankly, her puffy eyes searching mine for some sort of confront that I couldn't give in that moment.
"I can't do this anymore. I just can't." I said.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"You... you... are broken. I'm done. We are done."
She was silent for a couple of minutes. The words "you are broken" lingering in the air. For a moment I wished I could take them back. But I didn't, she was broken, and it was not my job to fix her.

"We are done?"
"Yes".
"Why?" she asked, sniffing and drying her tears on her sweatshirt.
I was silent and waited. She stopped looking at me anymore. She was breathing heavily.
"Im sorry." I managed to say.

She dashed herself off my bed and without saying another word she left the room. And right there I knew the worst thing about getting what you want was actually getting what you want and then realizing it may not be what you wanted at all. I may have been trying to fill a hole inside of myself with Millicent. But I couldn't think about it anymore. It was done. The girl loved me, and I couldn't love her back the way she wanted me to. I knew taking that wish from Cara had been a mistake.

Four: keep your shit together.

The next weeks I felt like a new man, reformed, fresh and strangely happy. I sometimes missed Millie, but not really. I barley saw her at school, and when I did she always staring at me with her puffy eyes and quivering top lip, that look always made me turn the other way. Ick. Clingy girl.

One day I came home to find a letter from, none other than Millicent. I pondered whether to open it, I could just throw it in the trash and forget it ever existed. But the memory of the Millie I used to love, the before-making-wishes-with-a-ghost Millicent, flashed in front of me and I decided to give it a chance.

I opened the envelope to find a wrinkled paper:

Dear Josh;
I now that we are over. I know that you don't love me anymore. I get that. I am slowly trying to fix that part of me that is broken, and I now know how. But to do that, I need closure, to finish our chapter. You owe me that. So let's meet at our old place in the forest. After that, I will leave you alone.
Today, at 5:00pm

Please,
Millicent

Something inside of me told me that I should not go. Why should I summit myself to her drama all over again?, and in the middle of nowhere where I wouldn't be able to hide. To talk to her again would be to face my broken parts and the shitty things that I did all over again. But she was right. I owed her that. I mean, a ghost made her fall in love with me by my request.

I made my way into the forest, walking slowly, making time. I was close to my destination when I heard a loud thrust that made me jump. I couldn't identify where it came from, but it was like nothing I have ever heard before.

I quickened my pace into our fucking place, actually finding conforming that I would be seeing Millicent in a few moments. I saw the clearing of the forest that it was our place and smiled. Where was Millie? I turned behind me and scanned the forest for any sign of her. And that is where I saw the floating feet. Her combat boots just hanging there, not touching the ground.

I felt like I had just crossed to border from sane to crazy in just a few seconds. Hanging from the biggest tree was Millicent. With a rope around her neck. Her eyes were opened and it seemed like someone just popped them out of their usual place. There was blood in her mouth, her tongue caught between those lips I used to kiss. She was slowly spinning form side to side. For the first time I noticed the cuts in her arms. Have they always been there?

As soon as I hit the ground, my knees buckled under me I realized I was not breathing. The air started to quickly fill me, just as the adrenaline did. I crawled my way away from her body. Scary sobs were escaping my mouth. My vision was blurry from my tears.

I crawled and crawled, and then managed to get up and started running. I ran until my legs were hurting and my lungs were screaming for air. I stopped and hugged a tree. Everything I ate in the day came pouring out of my mouth.

I don't know how much time passed until I was able to breathe normally again. I couldn't stop seeing her face, her beautiful face, in that moment, deformed by death. Why, Millie? Why would you do that?

"Hello", a familiar voice said behind me. I jumped and fell into the floor. I closed my eyes. I was scared as hell.
"Josh? Are you ok? Its Cara", she said.
I started screaming and crying more and more. She waited patiently until I was done.

"Are you crying because of Millie?" At the sound of her name my heart jumped, and I stared right into Cara's eyes.
"Did you see her?" I asked.
"Oh yes", said Cara. "I was her. I helped her. She really wanted to go. I told her that death was peaceful. That life was so much more painful than death". She said all of this as if she was just talking about making a sandwich, not caring at all what her words were doing to me.

"YOU DID WHAT?" I screamed. Something inside of me ignited. The fucking dead girl had helped MY, MY Millie kill herself?

"It was the right thing to do Joshy, don't be mad at her". Her voice shocked me and I felt like I was burning, or breaking into a million pieces and I could not do anything to stop it. I was afraid to turn my head because something inside of me knew I was going to see her again. But she would not be the same Millie I remembered. She would be a dead Millie. A ghost Millie.

"Millie is reeeeally nice", Cara said. "I have wanted a friend for such a long time. At first I considered having you as a friend. But I realized that I don't like men. Men are evil and vicious and bad things always happen when you are around them".

"Turn around Joshy, I want you to see me". Millie said. I couldn't turn. So I gathered as much air as I could and I started running.

I don't know for how long I ran, minutes, hours. Now I am at a place I can't recognize. I can't run anymore, I am scared shitless. And I am hiding behind a tree. It is stupid to think that two ghosts can't catch up with me. They will. And I am almost sure I will die. I realize now that it was all Millicent's fault. She didn't love me back, so I had to make her love me back and all this mess started with her. Yes. She was guilty.

Ok. maybe not all that guilty, I mean, I was an ass. I treated like shit after she fell in love with me. Just like she treated me before, when the roles where reversed. Damn it. I can hear them now. Are they serious? Are they fucking singing?

They are. They are humming a song I can't identify. Millie was always a good singer and Cara's sweet voice blends perfectly with hers. But this is not a nice thing to hear, it is extremely scary. They must think this is very funny. They know what they are doing. I can't just wait here for them to find me and do... whatever the hell they planned to do. I must act.

Five: we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

I come out of my hiding place, my legs made of jell-O. They are a few feet away from me. I can see Millie clearly. She looks beautiful, death suits her. They turn to look at me and start walking (or are they floating... whatever) to me.

"There you are" Millie says. "Why did you run?, we just wanted to talk to you. Make you understand, not hurt you".
"Well, I don't exactly believe that Millie" I answer, my voice strong.
"Well, Mills" Cara says to Millie, who apparently now has a new nickname, "I don't think we should lie to him. We may want to hurt him, just a little bit".

Millie stares blankly at Cara. "No, we don't" she says with determination.
"What do you mean?" Cara says, her voice tense.
"I don't want to hurt him Cara, I love him".
"No you don't". Cara snaps.
"But I do".
"You don't. I made you love him. It's not real. He hurt you. He manipulated you. He broke you". Cara says, her teeth clenched.
I am following the conversation as if my life depends on it, which I guess it does.

"I loved him from the beginning, before your magic tricks, or whatever that was. I just was too stubborn to accept it. All you did was open my defenses. Let me feel what I wanted to feel, to not be afraid. You made me vulnerable. And I thank you for that, because even though it was the worst time of my life, it was also the best time of my life".

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" I whisper. I can't help quoting Dickens. Millie and I were both big fans of A Tale of Two Cities, it was one of the few things we actually had in common, we used to quiz each other about who knew the novel best. I was our thing.

Millie smiled. "Yes. It was." she says.
"Shut it, human" Cara screams at me. "What the hell do you think you are doing, Millicent? I thought we had an agreement".
"I'm sorry Cara, I think you are confused. To me this whole thing was supposed to be a goodbye to Josh. To explain to him why I did what I did. I didn't realize our deal meant we were supposed to hurt him". Millie says patiently.

"I... I... I don't understand" Cara says. "Why would you forgive him? HE DID THIS TO YOU! MEN ARE EVIL. ALL THEY DO IS TAKE. THEY RAPE AND KILL AND DESTROY."

A horrible shrill comes out of Cara's mouth. I cover my ears. She starts to reap chunks of her hair. She scratches her pale face and a black substance starts pouring out. Her eyes turn to me, red and black, full of hate and horror. Another terrifying screams comes out of her and she charges. I see her coming and I think. This is it. This is what I deserve. Here is where I die.

And in a second Millie is standing in front of me. Cara crashes into her. A blue light blinds me. I close my eyes and fall into my back. I am to afraid to open them. I hears thrusts and more screams. Scratching sounds that pierce right into my bones. And then there is just the sound of a very frail whimpering. I open my eyes.

Millie is sitting on the ground, holding Cara in her arms. She is crying and Millie is gently caressing her deformed face as she were a small baby that is falling asleep. I am at an awe, I want to do something, but my body is not responding.

"Let go Cara, let go" Millie whispers to her. Cara stares into Millie's eyes afraid. "It's ok, it's time. There is nothing you can do now. I understand. I am here. You are not alone. You have to let go". And with that, a very faint smile forms into Cara's lips and in a blink of an eye, she is gone.

Millie stays still for a couple of seconds, and then she turns to me.

"Hey" she says.
I have to clear my throat. "Hi" I say back.
"That girl had some big issues" she says, trying to calm the ambiance. I don't think its possible after what I witnessed.
"Yeah" I say.
Millie stands up, walks toward me and then kneels in front of me.

"I wanted you to find me. Because I wanted to explain. For some people... for me, life was too much. It always was, even before I met you, and I just couldn't do it anymore. Ok?

I stare at her. "No, Millie, it is not ok. You should have talked to me. You just don't give up like that. You just don't".
She smiles at me. "Sh, Josh, sh. I made my choice, it's done. I can go now."
"I did this to you, I did it. Oh my God, Millicent, I'm so sorry".
"Yes" she says. "Im not gonna deny you played and important part in this. You broke my heart. But the rest of me was already broken, and you could not fix it. Ever. It was matter of time. That first day we met at the forest, I was planning to hang myself. You just delayed the inevitable and after that put a few more logs into the fire that was already burning".

"No. No. No. There is must be something I can do, anything" I say, tears escaping my eyes.
"Good bye, Josh". She stands up to leave.
"Millie" I scream at her. She turns. "Don't worry, Josh. We will meet again, maybe sooner than what you expect".
And then, Millicent is gone. Not a trace of her to be seen.

It was the stupidest of plans. And now I have to deal with the consequences of my actions. I know now I saw she was broken. I always knew. And I didn't do anything. I was scared, so I fled, I put on my defenses and I pushed her over the cliff. I was only taking care of myself, being selfish, unaware that my decisions and actions can affect others in ways I could not have ever imagined. I am left here. Broken. Aware. Alive.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way"-- Charles Dickens. 

THE END

C.L.S.A