The moon hung low in the black sky; casting an icy blue glow upon the fitful city. It was quiet, almost as if the event taking place seemed to loom over everyone’s head; almost as if everyone felt the same pain as he did.

Her hand was laying loosely in his; a loose he didn’t want to feel. It was the kind of loose that you got when you knew everything was coming to an end. And that was exactly what was happening.

The sound of their footsteps was barely even audible. The only sound he could hear was the silent scream, the protest that his heart seemed to be crying out. But she couldn’t hear it. She would never hear it.

From under his black hair, he lifted his eyes to the sky. There was only one star in the sky tonight. Hope, he thought. But then he sighed, as he saw its edges gently giving out; fading away.

The streetlight seemed to echo their silence as they passed by a man in tattered clothes. He shook his head slightly, eyes full of sadness, as they passed him.

She kept her eyes staring straight ahead, refusing to look at him, even for the last time. Her black curls drifted behind her neck as a patch of wind blew towards her. Her green eyes seemed numb though, unfeeling. He looked back down at the ground, wishing that it didn’t have to be this way.

He didn’t want to believe what was happening to them; the decision that had been made. Once she had said the words he felt his heart sink a mile in his chest, feeling as if broken into a million pieces.

But he wasn’t like this. He was strong. And he needed to be strong in those last moments of walking down that dark street. Knowing the truth is different than believing it. It hurts even more, he thought.

Then they came to the bridge. It was a small stone bridge, which had once held the greatest memories. It used to be full of sunlight and happiness. He remembered the day he first saw her standing there, looking down on the small stream that ran underneath the bridge. He remembered how beautiful she looked; how she thrived with life. And now, seeing her pale face and her unreadable expression, he wished they could’ve stayed in those sunlit moments forever.

Now the bridge was dark, the moon casting an eerie blue glow on the stones. They stopped. He felt his heart jump with the lurch.

Still holding onto his hand, she turned to face him. Her green eyes stared straight into his. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find his voice.

“This is it,” she said. Her voice was a little louder than a whisper. She looked around and then back at him.

“Please,” his voice shook. “Please can we just try to –“

“There’s no way.” Her voice was hard. For a second, he wondered if she wanted to do this. If she didn’t really ever feel anything for him.

His lips parted under the pressure that seemed to be pushing him into the ground harder and harder.

“I…I love you. And I always will.” It was all he could say.

But she just stared back at him. Her eyes were still clouded over, not revealing anything that she could possibly be feeling. She sighed.

“Goodbye.”

As he looked into her eyes one last time, he wondered if there could be any other word that could break anyone’s heart more. She was moving in slow motion as her hand dropped from his, and as she turned her back on him.

He wanted to scream to her. Her; his whole life. And his whole life was turning its back on him.

He felt himself wobble on his feet as she started to cross the stone bridge, expanding the distance between them.

Never again would he ever see her- she’d promised it. It was all over. Everything.

Her black hair blew gently behind her as she grew farther and farther away until she was just a small dot at the end of the lane.

And he couldn’t move. How could you move when everything you’d ever wanted had just walked away?

Hopelessly, he lifted his head toward the sky. And there he noticed that the star that had been suspended above only minutes ago had completely faded.

And just like a star bursting away into the night’s sky, he was gone.