[WP] You understand why the love of your life is leaving.

“Thank you.”

Then she was gone. A kiss on the cheek, sending flashbacks to the hot sweaty nights we had enjoyed. A wave, somewhat halfhearted and that last glance. As I shut the door and braced my body, I waited for the tears to come. As I slid down the door I thought of our old goodbyes. We had a thing of saying, “rawr rawr rawr”, whenever one of use had to go somewhere. Back in high school, it was when I was dropping her off. Lately, it had fallen into disuse as we had spent every moment together. Up until that fateful night.

We had a fight, she slammed the door as she was storming out and went to her favorite bar. I never did know which one it was. Anyways, she was at her favorite watering hole playing pool and downing a not totally unreasonable amount of beer. She was one a winning streak for once, and game after game she had a new opponent. Until one guy came up and wiped her out in three turns. I felt a half smile as I thought of her first reaction: pure unbridled rage, as she put it. She waited her turn and the next time she played him, it was a much closer game. She got his name, returned home and told me the story. We laughed about it.

Then a few weeks later, another stupid fight. This one was my fault. I had been too proud. I still remembered what I said as she was on her way out, as who could forget the worst thing they’d ever said? I said, “Find some other place to stay tonight!” I’m sure I had been drunk, and I apologized the next day, but at the time she wouldn’t say where she had stayed. I assumed her friends, until later that week when I saw on Facebook that they had been on an exciting trip to Colorado. My worst fears began to grow inside of me, eating me up inside.

Then the final straw. She joked that maybe I could start doing the dishes. Something small, like it always was. I still can’t remember why I went off the handle at something so minor. Maybe it was her tone, maybe it had been a rough day at work. In any case, the argument grew silent pretty quick. She always knew that I couldn’t bear it when she didn’t talk back. I pleaded for an explanation of why she was doing it, being silent. After a long pause, she started to explain what had happened. She had met somebody else. Somebody who treated her right. I was floored, I was angry, but I felt I had no choice but to let her explain.

Through thick and thin we had been there for each other, but we were like bandaids healing previous wounds. My exes, her abusive family. We were there to give each other hope that we hadn’t had before, she said. She placed her hand on my chest and said that it was time we finally let ourselves heal. I tried to put my hand on hers but she pulled away, and went to her room to start packing. I felt like time was standing still. She went all over the house, finding the boxes in the basement and the attic, all of her shoes, all of her clothes. The box of memories that she had kept for as long as I had known her. She went out front and waited on the front porch.

After what felt like an eternity, I went out on the front porch. There she was, sitting on the bench swinging nervously. My tears had dried, and I asked if she minded if I sat down. She didn’t. I sat beside her and thought long and hard about what I should say, what I could do. I thought of pleading, I thought of yelling, but suddenly I remembered something I had said long ago, when we had just started dating.

“Does he make you happy?” I asked, the words almost too quiet to hear. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and barely cracked a smile. “Yes.”

I nodded, gave her a hug, and walked to the door as a car pulled up. A respectable man stepped out of the drivers side and came to help carry things. I looked him in the eyes as he walked up the steps.

“Treat her right.” He nodded. As I went into the house her voice called my name from the car. She put the box she was carrying into the trunk, spoke a few words to the new man and ran up to the house. Inside the doorway she stopped, breathless, beautiful, and a little excited. As she gave me a hug I heard her whisper, “thank you.” Then a kiss on the cheek, the door was closed, and she was gone. As I slid down the door I softly whispered the words, “rawr rawr rawr”.

I just hoped that he would treat her better than I had.