Life Without You

In the black of night you see a car parked on top of the hill overlooking the small town of Everville. It was raining really hard. Two people were sitting along side each other in the front of the car. Everything was silent. The girl on the passenger seat was tear-streaked. Her long straight hair covered her beautiful face and her tears were trickling down her cheeks uncontrollably and she didn’t care to wipe them off. Her sobs where the only thing that was heard in the silent car. The boy on the driver’s side was trying so hard not to look at the person beside him. His hand was on the steering wheel. His knuckles have become white from holding the wheel too hard.

“Please stop,” he finally said. He slowly looked at the girl beside him. The girl’s shoulders were shaking uncontrollably; still she did not stop crying.

“Emily…” he took his seatbelt off and faced his love.

As he inched closer to try and calm her down, Emily moved away, as far away from him as possible with the current situation they were in. She took her seatbelt off and opened her side of the door. She went out in the pouring rain not thinking of where she would be going and not caring that she was already soaking wet upon getting out of the car.

“Emily!” he cried out and went after her.

The rain was pouring hard outside the car. The hill was completely dark; the only sources of light were the dimly lit houses and establishments in the town below. Emily was walking aimlessly away from the car, not noticing her boyfriend was following her.

Finally he caught her and held her in the rain.

“Leave me alone, Richard!” she said. Her tears were already blending with the rain as the huge drops hit her angelic face. The pain in her eyes were still clearly seen even though it was dark on the hill. “Isn’t that what you’ve wanted? For me to leave you alone?”

“No,” Richard answered as he kept his grip on Emily. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it then?” Emily struggled to release herself from his hold but failed. “After everything that has happened to us? Why the sudden change?”

“I told you – ” He started but was cut off.

“That you just woke up one morning and realized that you didn’t love me,” Emily finished off what he was about to say. “What have I done wrong? Why can’t you answer that simple question?”

“Can we just go back in the car?” Richard remarked, trying to calm her down but still failed to do so. “You’ll get sick if we stay out here.”

“Why would you care?” Emily shouted finally freed from Richard’s grip. “You don’t love me, remember.”

“You know, you’re acting like a child.” Richard said but suddenly bit his lower lip knowing the made a mistake in commenting.

“A child?” Emily remarked. “I am acting like a child? Is that it? You don’t love me because I’m acting childish all the time?”

“No, okay,” he answered, not knowing what else to say. “It’s not the reason.”

“Then what is it then?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Emily,” Richard replied not looking at her eyes. “I just felt like it was time.”

“What have I done wrong?” she shouted to him. “I have done everything you wanted me to become. I even took the job you wanted me to take and not the one I wanted so much to do since I was a child. I gave up everything for you. Was there something that I didn’t do that didn’t please you? What have I done for you to stop loving me? You keep on telling me there isn’t someone else but I can’t see a reason why you will stop loving me. Not unless…”

Emily paused and looked at the man she loved for five straight years. The only person who had the courage and the patience enough to change her tomboyish attitude and actually got through to the hardened exterior of Emily was standing right in front of her now also drench in the rain that kept on pouring hard on the two lovers. Richard did everything he can to change her. Even putting up with everything that she did but it wasn’t love that she saw in those eyes, it was something else. She looked at him with love still in her eyes. But realization finally hit her.

“You never did love me,” she finished off her sentence.

“Emily…” Richard started but again, Emily cut him off.

“You never did see me as a girlfriend but as your dead sister,” she remarked. “You loved her so much that when she was gone, you looked for the closest thing to her. And you found me.”

Richard stared at his beloved. Not wanting to say anything that might hurt her even more. Everything she just said tormented him for months but the answer to that question wasn’t simple. He asked himself time and time again what Emily means to him. Was it really true that he only was with her to ease the pain for the loss of his sister? Did he really look for a replacement of his sister Rita because he missed her so much? Still the answer evaded him.

He met Emily a year after Rita’s death. There she was, a girl wearing clothes three sizes bigger than her, a baseball cap, jeans and rubber shoes bullying other boys that were bigger and stronger than her but still she manage to take them on without fear. But despite the rough outer appearance he found that she was really a nice and simple girl. Emily intrigued him so much that he wouldn’t stop thinking of her. He knew he liked her and he started to pursue her.

It had been six years after that first meeting. Emily indeed changed from that rough and gruff girl he met to this lady standing right in front of him. But the beautiful girl he knew he fell in love with was standing in the rain with him asking telling him that he never did love her. And he knew that he’s hurting her even more by not rebutting her accusations. But he knew that what Emily said wasn’t true. He did love her, not the sisterly love that Emily is accusing him of but the love that only a man can give to a woman. But his confusion about his own life made him think that he didn’t love her anymore. Now seeing the woman of his dreams drenched in the rain and her own tears, he knew that he loved her still. His own insecurities just blinded him with the truth. He knew what to do and what to say.

Richard silence made Emily thought that she was right. She dropped down on the ground and cried her heart out. She couldn’t believe what was happening to their relationship. Everything was perfect. She didn’t know what happened or even why it happened that suddenly the love of her life, the only person she fell in love with that has changed her life would suddenly tell her that he didn’t love her.

She felt someone enclosed her in a tight embrace.

“Stop crying, Emily,” Richard said softly while holding her. “Please, stop crying. You know how much it pains me to see you cry.”

“Do you really miss Rita that much?”

“I miss her, yes,” he answered slowly, carefully choosing the words that would make things right again. “But the reason I fell in love you was not because of her. You two are two very different persons and I love you for you not because of her.

“There are just some things that confuses and scares me now. I feel that I can’t protect like before. And I want to keep on protecting you but with the situation that we’re in right now, I don’t think I can.”

“Don’t leave me, Richard,” Emily remarked, returning his embrace with all the strength she could give. She started rambling without a care in the world. “I’ll do anything you tell me to, just don’t leave me. I’m sorry if I’ve done something that you don’t like. I promise I’ll be better.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” he answered. He softly kissed Emily’s forehead to calm her down. “But how can you keep on loving me knowing that I can’t give you what you want anymore?”

“I don’t care about those things,” she replied. “All I care about is you.”

He kissed her then. A kiss that renewed everything they have. He kissed her with all the love he could offer her. And as the rain kept on pouring down on the two couple up in the hill, a light has found a way to their hearts.

My first pathetic attempt to write a love story. I know it's really pathetic, kinda makes me wonder why I posted it in the first place. Anyway, feel free to post your comment good or bad (bad is better so I know what to do to fix it.) Either at the comment or at the tagboard. Thanks very much!!!