THE FIGHT

I was dumb and in love, so I made a mistake I should not have ever made. I followed him out.

I should not have grabbed my keys out of my purse with trembling hands, rushed to my car and driven blindly across the city following my fiancée with a shattered heart and a vision now clouded by humiliation.

But love made people foolish, and I was in love. And right then, as I drove, I struggled to bite back my falling tears.

Evan’s car finally screeched to a stop in front of an apartment complex. I parked my car a couple of meters away from his, then, stepped out just in time to see him sprint away from the car while shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Lyra,”

Panic ripped his voice apart as his shout practically traveled through the street,

My stomach twisted, but I tore my keys away from the ignition, slammed my door close and followed after him, almost tripping over in my bid to catch up.

I reached the parking lot, and froze.

Two large men in masks stood in the middle of the parking lot. They were big, furious and armed with long metal pipes. Lyra stood behind them, one hand wrapped around a belly that was swollen, and another hand wrapped around the hand of a friend.

This felt like the perfect visage of a robbery in progress, but something was off.

I knew about images, and there was really something off about this one.

Lyra wasn’t afraid, her face might have been frozen in a stiff and fearful expression, but her eyes practically screamed delight.

And the moment they shifted over to me, she smirked.

And that was when I realized she knew exactly who I was.

Evan knew I was behind him, but not once did he glance back at me. With a lunge, he placed himself between Lyra and the two men.

“Stay behind me,” he barked in righteous anger, his fingers balled into a fist.

One of the men swung first, obviously not caring for any bravado from Evan. I froze, my breath catching, and I screamed,

“Evan!”

He didn’t look back, though he did react.

With a grunt, he ducked under the swinging metal pipe and punched the man right on his jaw. A crack split the air, and it made my stomach churn.

The second man charged and attacked with his own pipe. Evan blocked it, this time, using his forearm. He gritted his teeth, grunted in pain, then retaliated with a kick that sent the man stumbling back and the pipe falling out of his hands.

Lyra watched all of this happen with her hand over her mouth as she sobbed, but her eyes remained dry.

Her friend whispered something to her ears, Lyra turned to face me, then, chuckled.

Rage rushed through me. Lyra was laughing while my fiancée bled for her.

And that thought sent shivers running down my spine. I stood there, frozen stiff as I suffocated on what could only be called heartbreak.

The other guy caught Evan off guard, held him by the collar and slammed him so hard on the ground that the pavement almost broke.

I gasped, my muscles clenched as I prepared to run forward, to help —

Only for someone to shove me from behind, hard.

I tried to keep my balance, but I couldn’t. I fell slamming hard against the ground as I grunted in pain.

“Know your place, bitch.” a female voice sneered,

My palms scraped the pavement, and pain shot up my body as I sat up, still in disbelief.

I cried out, I knew I had, and I was sure Evan had heard me, but he didn’t care.

I tried to push myself up, but my elbows trembled, still scarred from the shock of the push. And all I could do was watch as Evan bared his teeth and rage pulsed off him.

With a roar, he shrugged the man off his back and delivered a brutal punch to his ribs, grounding him.

He fought like a man possessed.

Not for his fiancée, not for the woman he was about to spend the rest of his life with.

No, he fought for her, for his ex, for Lyra.

Within seconds, the two men were limping away, defeated.

Evan staggered, he wiped his blood off his cheek with his white sleeves, then slowly turned until our eyes met, and he spotted me on the floor, slightly bleeding.

Shock flickered across his face, and for a moment, I believed I spotted concern.

“Vera,” he whispered under his breath,

I swallowed hard, my heart clenching as I felt the power his voice still had over me.

I wanted him to run to me, lift me up, and tell me I was all right.

But he took only one step towards me, before Lyra let out a loud dramatic cry and clutched her stomach.

“A-ah!” she screamed, “Help me, Evan, I think something’s wrong.”

Evan’s head whipped towards her, and once again, without hesitation and without a backward glance at me, he ran to her.

I felt something within me fracture at that sight, it was sharp and final.

Lyra’s friend smirked at me, then mouthed, “He knows who really matters, and that’s not you.”

Evan cradled Lyra’s head to his chest, touching her slowly as he lifted her up and began to take her towards his car.

My scrapped palms still throbbed,

My knees still stung,

And my heart felt like it was bleeding onto the pavement too, as I watched my fiancée look at another woman as though she was the only thing that mattered in the world to him.

“Evan!” I called out as tears began to fall from my eyes,

He didn’t hear me, didn’t even glance back at me.

I cried,

But these were not sad, hollow tears, these were tears that fell when the truth finally sunk in.

I laid there on the ground for what felt like minutes before a sharp sound broke through my daze, it was footsteps.

Loud, heavy footsteps.

“What should we do?” A distinct voice called out, “We were not able to capture the bitch. How else are we supposed to threaten Evan?”

I froze, it was the two guys and they were back.

My eyes widened as I laid still, trying to keep myself hidden.

I failed,

“Wait, isn’t that his fiancée?” One of them gasped, shock spilling into his tone.

“It really is her,” The other replied, “Take her.”

This time, I could no longer stay still.

With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet, stifled my wince and immediately tried to run away.

“Catch her,” the first guy shouted, and my stomach dropped as I heard the rapidly approaching sound of their footsteps.

I fumbled through my purse for my phone, and immediately called my only emergency number. It rang once.

Then, “You know I’m busy,” Evan’s voice echoed from the other end of the line, “Lyra is in critical condition,”

My lips parted, but before I could say anything, he had already hung up.

For a moment, I stood in disbelief, my heart pounded faster than ever as I struggled to come to terms with what had just happened.

I only started moving when the sound of their footsteps became close.

My car was parked about a hundred feet away from me, it was close, but it was an open field, and I was far too weak to run that distance.

I glanced around, sweat dripping down my brows as I looked for any place I could hide.

There – I spotted a pile of trash and immediately rushed towards it. I just managed to jump inside and hide myself when the guys rushed past me.

I closed my mouth shut and held my breath. The stink was horrendous, but it was either that or getting kidnapped, and I didn’t want to lose my life.

I waited there for thirty minutes before I was sure that the guys had left.

By the time I stepped out, the night was darker, and I could hardly see my own feet.

I should have been scared, but all I could feel was rage, and the cold, empty realization that Evan had left me.

I pushed myself up to my feet, my body trembling.

And the realization hit me at that moment.

Evan no longer loved me. And as I stood there, broken, scrapped and rendered all but invisible.

I realized that tonight wasn’t the night I lost him, it was just the night I could finally admit that he was gone.

With a sigh, I turned back to my car and began to walk towards it.

Intent on driving back home, and packing out.