The One in the Crowd

Two months later, Niall met Alyssa in Orlando at the concert hall where they first met. They had a joyous reunion and their day spent at Disney was more than Alyssa dreamed it would be. Not only did they go to all the parks including Magic Kingdom, but like she daydreamed two months before, Niall bought her a tiara.

*Flashback*

“Let’s go into that cute little princess store!” Alyssa squealed.

“All right…quite fitting, isn’t it?” Niall teased. They walked into the store and looked at all the Disney princess items for sale.

After walking around for a little while, Niall heard Alyssa shout, “Ni! Look at these princess crowns!” from across the aisle. He chuckled and made his way over to her.

“Ah, tiaras. You want one?”

“Do I?!” she squeaked and grabbed one she appeared to have her eye on the whole time.

She was about to put it on when Niall said, “Allow me, my lady.” She handed him the crown and he set it neatly on her head. It sparkled and shined as the light reflected off of it.

“You are breathtaking, Your Highness.” Niall said with a courteous bow, as if he was bowing to the Queen.

The crown is now hanging above her bed. She looks at it every night before she goes to sleep. “To remind you every night before you go to sleep that you are my princess. And that I’m thinking about you wherever I am.”

That’s what Niall said to her when she asked him where she should put it. The happy couple has been going strong for eleven months. It will be a year in a couple of weeks and they’re planning to meet up in Miami to spend the whole weekend together for their big one year anniversary. Right now, Alyssa is waiting for a Skype call from him. He’s overdue to sign on.

She’s beginning to worry. Did he forget? Did he get busy (again!)? I just wanna see him. I miss him so much and love him with all of my being. It wouldn’t kill him to be on time for our Skype date.

His special ringtone comes on and Alyssa jumps over to her laptop to answer. “Hey Ni, why the lateness?” she asks eagerly. However, Niall does not look happy. In fact, he even looks sad.

“Alyssa…I need to talk to you.” Niall says.

“Okay…what’s up sweetheart?” she asks getting nervous.

“How are you feeling about our relationship? And like…the whole distance thing.” He asks.

“I feel like it’s going great. Sure we don’t get to see each other a lot…hardly ever…but we know we’ll see each other before too long. In two weeks, we’re meeting in Miami for our anniversary weekend and that will be amazing!” Alyssa says excitedly.

“Well…I’m not feeling so great about it. I need a girlfriend I can see all the time. You know I love you very much…but this just..isn’t working out for me. It’s getting too hard being away from you. I don’t want us to end, but not seeing you a lot of the time is killing me.” It seemed like every word was painful for Niall to say.

“What are you saying?...” she asks, her heart pounding out of her chest.

“I’m saying…I love you, but I can’t handle a relationship like this like the other guys can. I’m not strong enough even though you may be. …I’m sorry, love but we have to break up. I’m so sorry, Alyssa. But please, stay my best friend.” There is a pause. Alyssa says nothing.

“Alyssa pl—“ is all that she hears before she ends the call. She falls onto her bed and just bawls. All she can do is cry. The love of her life just broke up with her. Her life was over. Her reason to keep living was gone. …her reason to keep living was gone.

With that thought, she goes deep into her closet to find a box that she buried in there eleven months ago. In the box was a lighter with some cigarettes, a razor blade freshly sharpened, a couple knives, and a gun with one bullet.

She took out the razor blade and made a gash on her left arm. It started bleeding like crazy, but she didn’t stop. She made multiple cuts on both her arms. And arms shaking, lit a cigarette and put it in her mouth.

She opened her window and climbed out onto the ledge of her windowsill sitting there. With a pack of cigarettes next to her, one in her mouth, smoke blowing out of her, and blood slowly oozing out of her cuts, she smoked and bled her cares away while Niall’s Skype ringtone kept going off inside her bedroom.

Notes