Treading Water

Mila

I cried all the way to the beach, my tears blurring the road ahead of me. I felt like I was breaking apart. By the time I reached the beach, I was nothing more than a million shattered pieces that blew away in the wind when I opened the car door.

The beach was fuller than usual – it was late morning on a Sunday, and the weather was beautiful. The sea was a deep blue. The sky almost reflected the ocean in lighter shades of the same color.

But the beauty was lost on me. My chest physically ached with the pain in my heart, and I had no idea how to deal with it. I had been through so much lately – trauma and breakups and panic and stress. But this was a new feeling, and I had no idea how to handle it. I felt like I had been trampled.

My stomach rolled as I walked along the beach that Ben and I had followed so many times. How was it possible that all the good experienced just a couple of hours ago had evaporated like that? He would leave for New York, and I was willing to bet that he