Gone by Aishani Singh, Grade 8

“I told you not to get close to me,” she whispered, her black hair draping around her face like a curtain. “I told you that you’d only end up getting hurt.” Her black eyes were cold and distant as they looked Mark in the eye.

Tears ran down the boy’s shocked face as he shuddered in the cold. “I thought… I thought you would stay with me. I thought you cared for me. I thought you—”

“You thought wrong,” she told him, and emotion flickered in the depths of her eyes for the shortest moment before they disappeared, leaving her an empty shell. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that somewhere along the way I fell for you. I fell for your dorky smile and the way your eyes lit up every time you saw me. I fell for the way you ran your hands through your hair and blushed pink when you were embarrassed.”

Hope glimmered in Mark’s teary eyes as he reached for her hands. “Then stay, Jessica. Stay with me and maybe we can figure this out. Whoever is making you do this… we can stop them. Please. Just stay with me. You told me yourself that you loved me, so please—”

“None of it was real, Mark.”

Jessica’s words struck him across the face as though she had slapped him. “You’re lying.” The girl slowly blinked before replying, “No. I’m not. There was nothing, Mark. You imagined it yourself. You should have walked away when you had the chance. I gave you that chance.” There was an accusatory tone in her voice as she continued, “You should never have stayed with me. You should have never been there in the first place. If you'd never met me, none of this would have happened. I wish I’d never met you.”

Without another word, she turned on her heels and walked away without a second glance. Mark crumpled to his knees and more tears streamed down his face, hidden by the darkness of the night. She was gone.

The girl he’d loved— gone.

The girl he gave everything to— gone.

The girl he sacrificed his everything for— gone.

The girl who broke him— gone.