Year Seven - The Reed Land, North Carolina
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We broke up two days after our second anniversary.
Amanda wanted the ring. She wanted the babies. She wanted the future. I couldn’t give it to her. I told her I “didn’t fit” that life. She cried. I didn’t. That was the worst part.
I turned twenty-nine in silence.
My dad kept hinting about training again. He pointed out that my body had changed; I wasn’t the lanky kid anymore. I had filled out. My shoulder was healed, reinforced with anchors. Scott swore I’d be more efficient now.
I refused. I wasn’t going back to the thing that broke me.
Then Evan called.
“I’m sorry about Amanda,” Evan said over the line. “And for missing your birthday. But… maybe the breakup was a good thing, Si. Maybe it’s time you kind of go for someone that’s, you know… your type?”
I gripped the phone, sitting on the porch in the dark. “I think I’m better served alone, honestly.”
“You’re not gonna sit on that fucking haunted ass plot of land in your old ass house and die, Silas!” Evan shouted, losing his patience. “Get over yourself! It’s been like seven years, dude! And I’m not trying to be insensitive, but you can’t tell me fucking Cal was so good you can’t get past it.”
I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw ached.
“It wasn’t about sex for one. Thanks, you dick.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” Evan sighed. “Look, Si, it just pisses me off. The phone worked both ways. He could have called you. I saw you both after that shit, he was wrecked too. You guys needed each other, but you both are fucking emotionally immature pains in my ass.”
I rolled my eyes at the dark treeline.
“He didn’t need to call me,” I whispered. “I did the damage. I wouldn’t have ever spoken to myself again either.”