6/23/13

Dumped
By Linda M. Crate


She knew a letter was more impersonal than face-to-face, but it would have to do. She had to free herself from the parasite of his romance before she was merely a pedestal beauty. A skeleton of whom she truly was simply for him to stare at and admire. It was just something she had to do.

She didn’t even need one last parting glance to know she had done the right thing. The neatly arranged apartment filed so perfectly was no place for her. She was disorganized and messy at home, at work there was a demand for perfect order. At home she wanted to crash and throw her things wherever she wanted. He always was quite OCD about where everything belonged. It was like dating her boss, it just seemed wrong.

They had only been dating for two weeks and already he had told her that he loved her. It was a little ‘too soon’ she thought. They barely knew each other for him to be in this head over heels whirlwind of romance.

She put the note neatly folded in perfect symmetry so as to catch his attention. She knew that was probably the only thing about the letter he would like.

He walked in ten minutes later and found the missive she had left him. A small smile flickered to his face as he noticed that everything was perfectly symmetrical. He wondered what good news she had to impart to him. His face fell as he read:

Dear Bryce,

I’m leaving you.

You’re a nice guy, I’ll give you that. But you’re a little too clingy and emotionally unstable for me. I felt comfort in that you weren’t afraid to say that you loved me — I’ve dated one too many commitment phobes, but you said it entirely too much.

We’ve been together two weeks and you’re already talking about a wedding? I’m not ready for that. It’s too soon. We don’t even know each other.

Your love stifled and suffocated me. I needed more space than you would give me.

You’re neat and ordered perfection — outside of work, I’m a wreck. I just want to be lazy, to crash, and have some fun. Not have to focus on mundane tasks, I do enough of that during work hours.

Good luck with your life and future endeavors.

- Jill

He crumpled the note, throwing it into the garbage. How thoughtful of her to break his heart on the day he had been laid off from his job — she hadn’t even had the guts to say it to his face. Grumbling about what a terrible person she was, he sighed. He had cared about her, but not long enough for this to truly hurt. He had to admit it did sting, a bit, though. It was unexpected and out of the blue, but if that’s how she felt he was glad she broke it off before it got serious. Still, he didn’t know how to feel. He hadn’t been dumped before.

He was usually the one to end the relationship because he felt stifled or suffocated. He snorted. Oh, what irony!


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Linda Crate is a Pennsylvanian native currently migrated to Maine. She has a degree in English-Literature and her poetry and short stories have appeared in many publications the latest of which include: Birds Eye reView, Mirror Dance, Blue & Yellow Dog, Crisis Chronicles Online Library, Super Flash Fiction, and Dead Snakes.