Strangers in the Night

The sun shone through the old, sun-washed curtains into the dark room that painted a picture of pure bliss. My left arm tingled, reminding me that it had remained in the same position for the few hours I was asleep. I slowly moved it out from behind my pillow, making sure not to wake her. Sleep still coated my eyes, and the feeling of unfamiliarity clouded my head. For a few moments I was unaware of where I was, but then I felt her stirring awake beside me and I knew that this was exactly where I needed to be.

"Good morning," she smiled with her eyes shut. She spoke as though she hadn't regained the power in her voice and was yet to realize the volume of everything around her.

"Hi there," I replied softer, rubbing my eyes and then turning on my other side to see the boxes covering the floor. "We better get started, babe."

She groaned and rolled closer to me. "Or we could stay in bed all day..."

A smile coated my face and I contemplated this proposal for a few seconds. "The faster we get moving, the longer we can be in bed later," I said kissing her forehead and beginning to get out of bed. "What box has the coffee maker in it?"

She sighs and I can hear her sit up. "The one on the kitchen counter has all the coffee stuff in it."

I head to the kitchen to make the coffee and start unpacking the other boxes scattered in the kitchen area. This had been a long time coming and the fact that it was finally here made the smile on my face eternal. Sure, it was a crappy apartment, but we decided it would be better to live in a crappy apartment then not at all.

After the coffee was made, I brought it to her in her favorite mug that I unwrapped half the other mugs to find. She smiled and held the mug with both hands close to her face, absorbing the warmth as if it was freezing in the room. She took a sip and smiled at me. The love I had for her warmed me up just as her coffee has and overwhelmed my body. I leaned in to kiss her softly and I could feel her smile beneath my lips.

She tasted of coffee, sleep, and a tinge of peppermint, three things that shouldn't go together, but worked perfectly. The sound of everything from the open window and the thin walls muffled as I pulled back with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes what seemed like hours later to see that she had returned to unpacking boxes.

"You're the one that told me to get unpacking," she started and I could feel my lips curling upward "but look who's not doing anything now."

"Fair enough," I smiled turning back to unpack the boxes. I looked back at her frequently, catching snapshots of the woman I am in love with.

Later that night, she would nag me for getting such a small amount of boxes unpacked.

***

The mid-afternoon sun shone through the windows of the living room, filling it with light. I sat at the edge of the couch in the direct sunlight and opened the book I borrowed from the shelf on our wall. I had never been one to use the light provided by light bulbs; I preferred natural light. It's calming. Bliss fills my head as I look around and study the place that has become our home. Pictures covered the walls above the desk where she writes, books from our lives apart and lives together overflowed the bookcase we built. This was our home.

An hour or so later, she walked in from work and shut the door. Or tried to at least, sometimes it doesn't like to close. I could hear she was getting frustrated so I called out at her. "Babe, do you need some help?"

"No," she replied with her teeth gritted. "I can do it."

She banged her hip against the door one last time and finally the door surrendered. She sighed in relief and walked towards the living room.

"Jesus, Chris, why don't you have any lights on in here?" she said flipping on the switches.

I winced. "I like the sunlight," I answered, calmly trying to justify myself.

"Well it's horrible for your eyes, if you're not careful, you'll go blind by the time you're 50."

I nodded as she walked over to her desk and pulled up her latest piece on the computer. I tried to get back into the book but instead closed it and asked if she wanted some coffee. As it was brewing, I rummaged through the different cabinets to find her mug. I smiled as I held it; I could almost feel the warmth as she did when she wrapped her fingers around it and held it like a newly hatched chick.

Soon, her cup was filled with her favorite liquid and I walked it quietly over to her, making sure not to disturb her. "Here you go, hun," I whispered, waiting for her to take it out of my hands slowly and methodically like she usually did.

She turned around for a brief second and then went back to facing the screen. "Oh," she started. "Thanks. Just put it down. It's too hot to drink right now, I'll wait for it to cool off some."

A wave of sadness and confusion ran through my body and it was obvious in my voice. "Oh... Oh, okay."

My heart beat filled my ears and muffled everything around me besides the vicious typing of her keyboard.

***

The moon was the smallest it could be without it not being there at all. Usually when the moon is nearly non-existent, the tide should be low, but it wasn't. The tide overwhelmed me and suffocated my body. It went from my feet to my head and back down again. The sadness was drowning me.

The apartment was bare, it had been stripped down almost completely. All that remained was my clothes and the coffee mugs. Everything else she had taken, I had already moved out, or had been thrown out.

Six years, five months, and seventeen days.

That's how long we spent together. That's a huge chunk of my life. And it all ended with a note. A tiny little note that ended my future with her.

She said that I had become a stranger to her, that she didn't know who I was anymore. I asked her what that meant and she said she wasn't in love with me anymore. I was a stranger. I asked her what type of person lives with a stranger for three years but she didn't respond.

How long do you have to spend with someone before they become like someone you've never met? Is it when you've learned so much about them that it's almost like you know nothing? Or when you stop asking them about their day because it's always the same and then they don't tell you when it's not? I just don't understand.

This place had once been a home, a space where we shared memories, even if they were bad. Now it was a graveyard, a place where things went after they were dead. The walls were packed with yelling and splattered with tears. I didn't want to be here any longer, it's far too sad. I got up from her desk and headed into the bedroom to pack up my clothes.

I threw them all into a suitcase as fast as I could and left the room. The rest of my belongings were at my friend's apartment, my new home, whose walls were filled with memories of a different genre. Before I left for the last time, I grabbed the ring out of my pocket. The diamond was small, but beautiful. I was sure she would love it, but that didn't matter now. I opened up the cabinet and found her coffee mug sitting there alone. I placed the ring in the cup and closed the cabinet. I walked out of the apartment and didn't even try to shut the door.