• Light broke through the cold expanse of black as the door creeked opened, he glanced up and his appartment.
    “Wonderful, empty as always…” a weak grin escaped his lips as the irony of the words hit him. Trudging in, tired arms shrugged the bag of books to the carpet from his shoulder, glasses, keys, and wallet, tossed aside as if mear toys; but as he came to a halt, he turned, removed his fedora, and gently set it upon the coat rack, as though it were priceless gold. Walking through the house, he pressed the play button on the message machine and continued down the hall.
    ”You have four new messages. Message one: ‘I’M TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!!! GET A LIFE!!!! I NEVER LOVED YOU!!!’ End of message. Message two…….

    I’m tired of your bullshit…… get a life…I never loved you…… He didn’t hear the rest of the messages, he just stood there… unable to move, to think, to react. It was as though time had stopped, and all there was were those three lines, floating all around him… tired of your bullshit…… get a life… never loved you…… A swirling image in his head moved so fast, like an elusive dream. It danced in his mind just long enough for it stay in the back of his head. Drained of all thought or reason, he walked over to the stereo and tuned it on. As the music blared he began to mumble the words as he tried to make dinner.
    ”Was it a dream… is this the only evidence… that photograph of….. you and I….” Screaming as loud as he could, he collapsed in the kitchen and cried… and cried…

    * * *
    He didn’t know how long he cried, or what time it was, but he didn’t care… nothing mattered anymore. Now that she was gone, he was all but dead inside… I loved you with all my heart, I gave you everything I could, did everything for you… and it wasn’t enough…… why… why Alexis… why am I not good enough…

    Slowly, he rose up and opened the oven door and turned on the gas. Trudging over to the couch, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his Zippo.

    Sitting down, he thought:

    ………………………I love you………

    30 Minutes Later

    Crying, she drove toward Shane’s apartment, hoping that he hadn’t gotten home yet. As she came around the block, a fire truck and a police car sat out side Shane’s now burnt apartment.
    As she pulled up to the police line an Officer stepped forward, “Mam’ your gonna hafta go around… there’s been a fire and we need to finish the clean up.”
    Hearing this she began to fret.
    ”That’s my boyfriends house!!! Is he in there!!! Is there a body!!!”

    ”Mam’ we cant tell you any-“

    ”Hey guys help me out!!!! We got a live one!!” yelled one of the firemen, as he slowly dragged a tattered body from the rubble.



    Next Morning

    Where am I? What happened?
    As he opened his eyes, blinding white light poured into them. He began to blink over and over, mumbling as he realized his eyes weren’t adjusting.

    ”Shane, your awake… how are you?” His body tensed and tingled. She came back……
    ”Shane, I’m so sorry for the things that I said… I never meant those things, I love you, and I always have…”

    * * *

    Three days later, Shane died of 3rd degree burns that covered ninety-six percent of his body… Alexis committed suicide a week later out of sadness for the loss of her lover…

    THE END