E Is For…

End It

Aura and I had broken up, err, “were breaking up” when it happened. At some point during our road trip, some nonsense conversation about her being too emotional and me not being emotional enough weaseled it’s way into my backseat and whispered into our ears, “end it.” From there it snowballed into an argument, forcing me to pull over. That argument quickly became a screaming match that spilled its way out of the car and on to the side of the road.
Aura’s finger in my face, my hands in the air, the occasional car horn, and then I said it… My jaw hung open. Everything around us slowed to a stopped. No passing cars. No birds singing. No leaves rustling. A small breeze came by to taxi the word from my mouth to her ear, and then even the wind had halted to witness her reaction.
The finger that was in my face aligned itself with the others, raised themselves above Aura’s head, opened the skies, and struck my face with the power of The Almighty Zeus himself. Thunder cracked. Bolts of lightning came crashing down around us. The ground shook. And I kid you not, the mountains moved. I ran to the car, opened the door to let her in, and when I turned to call for her Aura was gone.
Yes, you do see those ‘falling rock’ caution signs on the side of the road fairly often. But seriously, how often have you actually SEEN a rock fall from the side of a mountain? Moreover, how often do you witness a rock fall from the side of a mountain, and land on the road? Now, how often do you see a rock fall from the side of a mountain, land on the road, next to one of those signs!?
I’ve told this story time and time again, no one believes it, but I’m telling you that she was gone before the rock landed. I had to have circled that boulder a hundred times, grabbing at every nook and cranny my fingers could reach to try and lift it. There was not sign of her, none. Not her body, not an article of clothing, not even a speck of blood to indicate that she was under there.
Still I tried. Lord’s knows I tried. They say she wasn’t there. There’s no sign of her, no record. They say she was never there. But she was, she was there, until she moved on, until it ended.

Thank you for letting me use this picture!