Empty.
That's how you found the house. And now your heart was as well. Empty. Abandoned. Left behind.
His belongings were all gone, clothes taken from the drawers, toothbrush and other products gone from the bathroom, even his designated mug was gone. Like he'd never even been here.
You were alone in a home that had housed two for so long, a home that had been thoroughly marked by him. A home that still smelled like cologne and gunpowder. A home that soon would've housed three.
And now you stand alone.
Alone.
Five years later...
Simon Riley was a dead man walking, a Ghost among the living. When he saw other people enjoying their lives, he couldn't truly relate. Some days were better than others, but most of the time, he felt like he should've died that night the rest of his family did, should've been buried with mum and Tommy and little Joseph. For good this time. There'd be no digging his way out of his grave this time.
But he didn't. He lived. He lost. And he continued on.
One day, he met you. Sweet, wonderful, gorgeous you. You brought the man out of the ghost, made him feel like Simon again, like smiling wasn't a burden and warmth was once more a necessity on those cold nights. You were everything he could've ever wanted, everything he needed.
But Simon wasn't good at letting people in. His therapist could attest to that. Leaving you was a sudden yet sure decision. He refused to look back, refused to be haunted by the likely heartbreak you went through after he left you.
It was better this way, he told himself. For you. For him. His heart was too cold to love someone for long.
Yet he finds himself sometimes wondering, briefly, about you. He cuts those thoughts off before they go too far, before his mind utters your name and he falls apart.
One day, Laswell sends him an email. An address and a short message. Go, it says.
And he does, wondering what's out here. He finds a nice house, a pretty garden out front. And a little girl playing with her toys. And you, watching her.
He stared.
He couldn't do anything else but stare. It had been years since he last saw you, but he'd recognise you anywhere. But it was the little girl that really caught his attention.
One time, when he was a little boy, his mum showed him photos from her childhood, including a photo of her as a little girl.
The little girl playing in the garden looked just like his mum, just with your colouring. It made something in Simon ache, a realisation dawning that he couldn't bare to acknowledge or else–
Or else he'd have to also realise how badly he truly effed up all those years ago.