Mae and Chris were like peoples dream couple. They were perfect to the world. For months their relationship was filled with nothing but happy memories and joy. That was until Mae realized that Chris became distant. Whether it was longer hours at work, or staying at friends houses more often then usual, he was barely home anymore to her, it seemed like he had changed overnight, but Chris had been distant for much longer. Mae started questioning if it was something she had done because she was a workaholic, but she couldn’t think of anything. No matter how long she sat in their home to think, the only conclusion she could up with, is that she was alone. Even on a cold-winter day like today.

    Mae is very emotional; she tends to overthink a lot. Because of this, Mae thought it would be a good idea to surprise her boyfriend by coming home early and making a nice meal for them. But she was wrong, so, so wrong. As Mae left work early to set up dinner, she started to have a sick feeling in her stomach. She didn’t know why, but something told her to go straight home instead of to the store like how she wanted. She chose to ignore it because she wanted to do something nice for Chris. She quickly got what she needed from the store and made her way home. The sick feeling returned and became worse, she became worried. When she got home, she saw Chris’s car in the driveway. She was confused because he wasn’t supposed to be home for the next 2 hours. Mae grabbed the groceries she’d got and headed inside quickly and quietly. She figured she could still surprise him by cooking together as a bonding thing. Mae put everything down in the kitchen first and decided to go look for Chris. She looked all around the downstairs area to see if he was there, but he wasn’t. As she headed upstairs to check their room, her stomach started to turn. Once again, she became worried and went straight to their room and opened the door. Now, right in front of her eyes, her world came crashing down. It was like everything she knew was a lie after seeing her boyfriend and best-friend together in the room. She didn’t know what to do in that moment. Mae could see her boyfriend trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t hear him. Everything sounded muffled, like if her ears had been clogged. She couldn’t be there any longer. She runs out the house and down the road. She didn’t know where she’s going, but she didn’t care anymore. Her world has been shattered and burned and she can feel everything. She wanted it to stop.

    After running for what felt like forever, Mae stops. She realized that she ran all the way to a bridge. At that moment, Mae made an impulsive decision, after all she wanted it to stop right ?

As she walks up the bridge, she doesn’t seem to realize the glaring eyes from the figure on the other side of the bridge. How can she ?All of her emotions are hitting her at once. Once she’s at the top, Mae climbs on the railing and sits for a moment. She looks out into the world to admire it. She started to think maybe it was her fault, maybe her best friend gave Chris something that she couldn’t, but what ? Mae did everything he wanted, cooked, cleaned, worked, and was always so generous to him. Was she still not enough ?

    As she’s about to jump someone grabs her from behind and pulls her back. She screams and kicks to let her go, but this person doesn’t budge. They put her down, turn her, and hug her. All she can do is cry in the arms of this stranger. “Please live, even if you’re not happy right now, you need to live.” they said. Nothing else was said after that, nothing needed to be. Mae knew that the stranger was right, painfully right. The stranger pulled away after a moment, grabbed her hand, placed something in it, and walked away. When Mae looked at her hand, she saw a small silver bracelet with a peace sign charm on it. She wasn’t the kind of person to wear jewelry, but she promised to never take it off.

    Mae decided to head back to what she once called her happy home. When she walks in, she sees Chris on the couch. “Where have you been ?”, “I’ve been worried sick,” he yelled. ‘”We’re done.” is all Mae says before she continues to walk upstairs. Chris followed her and screamed at her continuously, but she didn’t care, all she did was grab a bag and started to pack her things. She needed to move on. When she finished, she walked back downstairs, grabbed her keys, and left the house while slamming the door with a loud bang.

    Mae felt free when she left, she never realized how trapped she was in that relationship. She went and stayed in a hotel for now until she could find something more permanent. This was the start of a new chapter for herself, and she promised herself to get help and focus solely on herself.