She stood just far enough away from the rusted tracks, their brown flakes at her feet. She felt the September breeze whisp its way through her thin white dress as the fabric danced around her legs. Autumn leaves swirled around her, sealing her in a bubble of time. She and the world around her stood frozen as she stared into the rotting trees just opposite of her. The trunks and naked branches blurred together as her mind slipped through the crevices of the present and into the infinite universe of the past, of regrets, of what could've been. She couldn't help but think about how things should have gone. She looked down at her hand, staring at its flat surface. She felt the cold metal against her skin as her fingers began to fondle the golden chain, tracing every nick, every dent, every minuscule of imperfection and finding beauty in it.

***

The two of them sat side-by-side, the only thing separating them was the small plastic compartment. His hand created a warm envelope around hers, protecting her skin from the chill of late autumn. Hot air blew out of the vents of the car, sending a warm, tingly feeling through her veins as she looked down and smiled mindlessly. It was late and theirs was the only car on the two-lane street. The smell of too-hot-to-drink coffee lingered in the constrained space, engulfing them in a cozy state of bliss. The radio emitted soft music, as if their drive had its own soundtrack and, every once in awhile, you could catch them inaudibly muttering the words to themselves.

***

She felt the sun on her face as its rays infiltrated the thin skin of her eyelids, causing her to slowly come to, her lids fluttering like migrating monarchs. As she drifted from the island of dreams, she stared at the pale off-white wall, a sleepy smile gracing her features in the subtlest of ways. She slowly came aware of her surroundings. She became aware of how the charcoal sheets contrasted her pale complexion and hair; she became aware of the morning chill of mid-winter and the foggy windows. She became aware of the body laying next to her. She rolled over a little so that she was facing him, his arm remained coiled around her like bronzed wire. Their faces mirrored one another as they shared small, sleepy smiles, the kind that were prisms of innocence. In that moment, she could picture her future; she could picture exactly what she had always wanted. And she would give anything to be able to protect those waking dreams.

***

She sat on the burgundy couch, her feet relaxed on the table and her spine slouched against the fabric. She followed the words on the page with her finger, taking in each one as she found herself absorbed in another reality. That was, until she was pulled back in by the slamming of the front door. “Give me your phone,” she heard him say. She looked up at him, confused.

“Huh?”

“I said give me your phone.” He continued screeching despite the fact that he was less than two feet away from her. In her confused state, she didn't move. “Are you deaf? Give me the phone. Now.” After a few disoriented mutters, she pulled the device out of her pocket and handed it to him, watching anxiously to see his next move. “Password,” he said simply at first, giving his vocal cords a moment to climb from zero to one hundred once more. “What's the point of giving me the phone if I can't get into it? Unlock it now.” He threw the black tech onto the couch and the pair watched it as it bounced off of the cushion. She picked it up and entered the passcode.

Once he was in, the questioning began. He brutally asked her who every contact was and why she had them in her phone. She felt humiliated, like she had done something wrong, but she had no idea what she had done. She felt guilty for putting him through the trouble of having to do this, but she didn't know what she had done to provoke it in the first place. She was sorry and she didn't even know why. She just hated seeing him worked up like that; she hated seeing him so stressed. She just wanted him to be happy.

***
There she lay, on the ragged carpet of the bedroom floor, her eyes fixated on the loose laces of his shoes. One of her hands made a fist around the tiny fabrics of the flooring while the other limply lay on her reddened cheek as it was infected with the venoms of betrayal. The water cascaded out of her eyes and onto the ground, like fog on a car window. She tried to hold in the deep and shaking breaths because she knew how upset it made him when she cried. Instead, she stared straight ahead, watching him as she knew he was watching her from above. The two were locked in what felt like a never-ending game of poker as each of them awaited the other’s move.

Then, his shoes were out of her line of sight. She felt a sudden yanking at her frizzy hair that was strong enough to lift her entire torso off of the ground, as if she were a mermaid leaping out of the sea. Her heart leaped a bit in her chest and she groaned at the aching pain in her head. She squirmed only a little, before giving in. He pulled his arm back to force her onto her knees and then pushed her into a dresser that was up against the wall. The last thing she remembered was the chilling feeling of blood trickling down the length of her hot face.

She wasn't sure how long it was before she began to come to, the intense pain in her temple immediately present. She ran her hand along the thin scratch on her cheek that had been left by his ring. She could already feel her skin beginning to patch up the injury. She lifted herself up with trembling arms and found herself staring into two blue eyes. Eyes that had haunted her deep sleep. The last time she had seen them, they had looked cold, like glaciers that had been frozen over twice by a cruel arctic wind. But when she looked into them upon waking up, they had a much warmer glow to them, like the Caribbean in the wake of a storm with its cerulean waters. As she sat herself upright, she felt his burning hand reach for hers. He held it for what felt like an eternity, feeling every skin cell with care. “I’m sorry,” he said, letting go. She looked down in her flat palm and saw the small yet intricate golden chain that he had left. She wrapped her fingers around the necklace.

“It's beautiful,” she whispered, looking back up at him.

“I'm sorry,” he repeated, “you know I hate hurting you like that and I only do it when you make me. You know that, right?” She nodded.

***

She listened to the world around her. She could hear and feel the breeze grow stronger as it formed a twister out of her dress. She could hear the loud rumbling of it speeding down the tracks, one board at a time. The sound echoed through the hollow trees, causing her to get trapped within its cage.

She glanced down at the gold chain in her flat palm once more, a tear or two shattering its shining surface like raindrops in the ocean. She encased the piece in her soft fingers one final time. She closed her eyes and felt gravity pull her into a crystal ball that played her a movie of every single memory that was woven into the links of the chain.

She could feel the ground shake as the noise grew closer and closer. In a single motion, the windows to her soul were forced open and her arm was drawn back. Within seconds, she heard the clinking of the gold hitting the rusted metal. Her hand was empty. She looked to her left and saw the appearance of a black train racing down its tracks. The train chugged on past her and her eyes moved from one car to the next, watching each of them pass. After the last car was gone, she looked down at the old tracks. There was no gold chain.

And, in that moment, she was free.