Jay sat on the edge of the bed, phone and keys scattered around her. Her chest felt like it had been hollowed out. She had been searching for him for a week — calling, asking, hoping.
And then… the postman had delivered a small envelope, heavy with a weight she couldn't name at first glance. Her name was written in Keifer's handwriting.
Her hands shook as she tore it open.
Inside, the letter smelled faintly of his cologne, and her breath caught. She unfolded the paper carefully, almost reverently.
Jay…
The words spilled across the page, careful yet raw.
I don't know how to begin. Maybe there is no perfect way to tell someone what they mean to you… but I have to try.
I fell in love with you the moment I realized you were everything I wanted to protect, to laugh with, to live for. Every single day, I wake up grateful that I get to call you mine. Marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Her chest tightened. Her eyes blurred. She could hear his voice in her head as she read:
But slowly… slowly, something changed. You started picking fights. I couldn't understand why. I tried to reach you. I tried to explain myself. I tried to make you see that I loved you more than anything…
But your anger kept hitting me, over and over. It became heavy. So heavy I didn't know how to carry it anymore. I wanted to fight back, to argue, to hold you… but I couldn't. I couldn't anymore without breaking myself. And still… I couldn't walk away. Because I love you. Endlessly.
Her hands trembled. She felt as if the letter was burning her fingers, each word stabbing through the void of the last week.
I wanted to be everything for you. I wanted to hold you through every fight, through every storm. But now, I realize I cannot keep myself whole if I stay where I am not seen. You deserve someone who will take care of you in ways I cannot right now.
If you are reading this… I must have already left. I am gone. You will not find me. And I am sorry, Jay… more than you will ever know.
The letter slipped from her hands. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor, hugging herself, rocking back and forth.
Every word he had written pierced her heart like knives she couldn't pull out. Every confession… every declaration of love… every explanation of his pain…
It was too much.
Her chest heaved.
Her tears fell freely.
And through it all, a single thought screamed inside her:
I was nothing without him. I have lost the only person I ever truly loved… and I never even realized it until now.