He Remained Silent

Finally turning to look at him, Yara desperately tried to remember what it was like when they first fell in love. Pinching her eyes closed for the 17th time that hour, she thought about how he used to smile at her. His soft lips stretching into an upturned crescent moon, eyes sparkling with affection as he gazed down at her. His warm fingers circling her back, comfort seeping into her skin. His sweet breath tickling her ear as he kissed her forehead, lips, then returned to her temple.

“I love you more than life itself” he would whisper, flashing another breathtaking smile at her when she responded with weak knees. Flinging her eyelids open as if she was afraid they would be glued shut, she abandoned the flashback and peered at him through her shadowed lashes. “You haven’t smiled at me in months, you know” she finally choked out, eyes never leaving his face. 

He said nothing. 

Just stared blankly at her with no hint of remorse at the agony on her face. She put her hands in her hair and tugged softly on her curls, attempting to replicate the feeling of him caressing her once more. But nothing felt the same. Nothing ever felt the same anymore. Pulling on the coils until her scalp screamed for release, she yelped in frustration as tears sprung to her eyes. Thinking the sight of her cries would cause him to waver, her heart started to soar when his arm instinctively jerked and stretched out to her, and then crashed when the same arm snapped back to his side. The blank stare remained, but she hoped it was guilt she saw flash in his eyes. She prayed for it. 

Now sobbing uncontrollably, Yara stepped towards him until he was an arm’s length away. Shaking, she realized her despair had turned into a familiar simmering rage.

“You- You don’t love me anymore!” she exclaimed, no longer trying to compose herself. 

“You,” she began again, feeling a scream threatening to leap from her throat. “You said you would never hurt me and then you CHEATED ON ME!  And you promised you wouldn’t, you promised!” Yara wailed, feeling her head spin with grief.

Still, he said nothing, 

Didn’t offer her comfort. 

Didn’t deny these claims. 

Because they were true and he wasn’t sorry. 

She knew he wasn’t. There was no way he was. 

Finally snapping, she reached out and slapped him, causing his head to whip violently to the side. “SAY SOMETHING!” she pleaded, but his lips remained closed as if he stapled them shut just to spite her. 

Suddenly exhausted with anger, she sunk to the floor, eyes once again flooding with bitter tears. Yara sunk down to the cool tile floor and grabbed his face in her hands. 

“Oh my love,” she began, barely touching his cheek with her fingertips as if he was fragile china, “Why did you make me have to kill you?” 

His words rang in her head like church bells. 

“I love you more than life itself.”

But now, as her tears mixed with the blood on his chin, 

He still remained silent.