Spoiler
Liz and Damon have been best friends since college. While at a bar, they discuss the fact Liz cannot bring herself to love anyone. No matter how hard she tries, she cannot love. Damon, on the other hand, believes that love is everywhere and expecially there for her. After a heated debate, Liz goes to leave, and Damon is drunk. He kisses her, showing his true affection for her at last. Liz feels nothing from this kiss. As Damon walks away, he says, "I hope you can feel something one day, Liz." And Liz whispers to herself, "I hope I can too."
Dear Elizabeth,
For the past five year I’ve found myself drawn to you by some connection unknown to most mankind. You’ve made my everyday a little bit brighter. In you, I found something that you swore is never to be found. You see, Liz, I’m in love with you. And for some reason, I simply can’t fall out of love. You made it sound like it was possible to simply not believe in love, and trust me, I’ve tried, but with you it just won’t go away. It won’t leave me Liz. You know all those girls you’ve watched parade through my life? I never loved any of them. But, I was trying Liz, I was trying to get over you. You, with your warped opinion on love. Sometimes, I wonder, my god, what did someone do to hurt this girl to the point of no return. But, you say you never have been hurt, and you appear so strong it’s hard to believe that you would be hurt.
But, my dearest love, here is where the problem lies. You see, you experience joy and happiness and maybe some regret too, but until you can love, you’ve felt nothing. When I met you, the world became different colors. I wonder if you’re merely colorblind. Hahaha. Now the hard part comes in.
Liz, I know that you cannot ever love me back. And I’m afraid that if I stay around too much longer I’ll either do something to physically hurt myself or even you. It’s passion Liz, and I don’t really expect you to understand about it. But when you haven’t felt the kind of love I have for you, you simply cannot image the pain of them not returning it. It’s soul splitting, and soon, I wonder if one day I’ll wake up and there will be shards of my body scattered across my apartment.
You would tell me I’m being dramatic. That’s the sad thing, I’m not. I can’t breathe without you, Liz. So, I’m taking my first step to growing my own pair of lungs, and this letter is the start of it.
This will be the last time you ever hear from me. For the past five years you’ve given me the greatest times of my life, even if you never realized it. Thanks for that. I hope, that maybe, by my leaving, you’ll feel something too. Maybe, I’ll help you realize love. I hope I do. That’s why this is the best for both of us. I’ll be gone, and you won’t be able to find me.
If this does somehow cause you to feel emotion, just remember me. Remember our plans, our history, and the laughter. Maybe, one day, your memories will bring me back. Until the day you can love, I can never see you again. And how will I know that day will truly come? I don’t. I never will. That’s why I’m gone.
I need to learn how to live again. With you, I don't know if I can correctly. Because, I think I've discovered that true reason for life, is love. You're a black hole, Liz, and I can only hope that one day, you'll see what I've been trying to tell you all along.
I love you,
Damon
Damon read the letter one last time before slipping it into the blue New York City mailbox. He grabbed his suitcases and waited on the corner for the taxi to pick him up. He tried to breathe slowly, but he couldn’t. Could he really go through with this? As the taxi pulled up and the cab driver looked expectantly with him, Damon told himself to be a man. He gritted his teeth, pulled his long business coat closer into himself and slipped into the cool leather seats.
“To the Airport,” he croaked. The cab driver looked in his mirror and nodded. And with that, Damon closed his eyes.
~*~
Liz checked her phone for the fifth time in the hour. Damon hadn’t called her all day, which was something she worried about, considering he usually had either called or texted her twice by the current time.
She sat on a barstool in her expensive apartment. She had to leave for her work in two hours. She was a high ranking editor in the fantasy book industry. She walked impatiently to the large window that overlooked a block of fancy little shops and apartments, along with a park.
She decided that she would go get the mail out of her box on the first floor. It only took her a couple minutes in the elevator, along with checking her phone once more. Nothing unusual happened, and she walked into her apartment five minutes later.
She splayed the variety of clothing magazines and Christmas advertisements across the bar. She tried to see if any of them looked worthwhile when a solitary letter in an almost plain white envelope caught her eye. She took it and noticed Damon’s handwriting. At that moment, she started to quake.
She walked over to a large plush chair and read the letter with shaking hands. By the last line tears were streaming down her face and making tiny plopping noises on the paper. Liz curled up into a ball and ran her hands through her hair. For five years, Damon had been her best friend. He had been there for her no matter what. His smile could instantly brighten a day, for her too. Now, he was gone, simply because she was almost dead inside. Damon had been the only thing to give her true feelings the past few years. Now, she wondered if she could live at all.
First, she tried calling his cell phone. It immediately said the line was disconnected. She then called his landlord, who said he had paid his last rent yesterday and said he was getting out of town. That’s when Liz knew he was truly gone. She reread the letter in some hope of finding him.
“If this does somehow cause you to feel emotion, just remember me. Remember our plans, our history, and the laughter. Maybe, one day, your memories will bring me back.”
Liz thought of something as she read those lines. Standing up quickly, she ran to her room and threw open her bottom drawer. In the bottom right hand corner, buried beneath sweaters and jackets, were two crumpled pieces of paper.
“List of Things We’ll Do One Day,” the note read.
“You’re terrible at coming up with titles,” Damon had teased on the day they had made the list. It included all the things they had wanted to do together, from camping in a city park to visiting the West Coast. It even included randomly small silly things, such as numerous things they were going to do to get kicked out of Walmart.
At that moment, Liz decided that was the way she’d bring him back. Maybe, by doing these things, she’d feel his love. Maybe, she’d realize that hole in her heart, could actually be filled. And maybe, just maybe, he’d be there, at one of those places, somewhere along the way.
Overall, you are a talented writer and I highly encourage you to continue! Great work.