All I Ask Is... Why?

"Leave me alone Brian!" Evelyn demanded as we made our way into the house.

"Evelyn, please! Please let's just talk about this." I pleaded as I followed her upstairs to our bedroom. Once she reached inside, she slammed the door shut on me and locked it. "Sweetheart I really want to talk."

"There is nothing to talk about!" She yelled from the other side. I could hear the sounds of zippers zipping and unzipping. Clothes being tossed from one side to the other and shoes falling on the floor in the process.

"Baby, I'm sorry! Please. I'm begging you, let's just talk for five minutes. Please!" At this point, I don't know what other choice I have than to just beg Evelyn to talk to me. I got down on both knees in front of the closed door and just listened as everything grew still. No movement or anything for what felt like the longest ten seconds of my life. Finally I could hear her footsteps slowly come closer and closer to the door. My heart began to race at the sound of the door unlocking.

She slowly opened the door to see me down on my knees, tears ran down her cheeks and her mascara left the trails. She was so brokenhearted and sad, and even then, I couldn't get over how beautiful she is. She sniffled and wiped the tears off of her face. "Five minutes." She demanded before walking back into the room and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Her arms folded across her chest as she stared down at her lap, refusing to look at me.
I got up and walked over to her. Sitting beside her was going to be hard to get her to look at me. I kneeled down in front of her and rested my hands on her knees. "Evelyn, I know that I haven't been the best to you for the past two weeks, hell, I treated you like shit. I know that. I can't even begin to describe how sorry I am. Baby, I was scared. I never thought about being a father one day, and my biggest fear now is letting you and our baby down. I love you, more than you will ever know, and I don't want to lose you. Please, all I am asking is for you to let me make it up to you."

Evelyn refused to look at me. She remained quiet for another few seconds before sighing softly to herself. "Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me Michelle was released? Or for that matter, why didn't you tell me you were going to her welcome home party?"

"Evelyn, I know that if I had told you, you wouldn't be the same. You wouldn't trust me. You would think the worst of me if I had told you about her."

Evelyn looked me in the eyes with a cold look in her eyes. The same look Michelle would give me when she would drink and get angry with me. "And you keeping this a secret from me was supposed to make things better? Like I would never find out? How do you think you going out every night and not coming home until the morning made me feel? Brian, you wouldn't talk to me for two weeks! You already had me thinking the worst of you even when I assumed Michelle was still in jail! When I saw you laying on top of her earlier, I lost it. My mind was going crazy with random thoughts and the last thing that I wanted to see was you on top of her in my own home!"

I sighed. "I know, and I'm so sorry. I really am. But I can promise you, I wasn't cheating on you. Michelle found me outside of a baby store, and I was a few beers deep drunk. She saw that I was too drunk to drive so she insisted on bringing me back home to you. And baby, she really wants to make peace with you."

"Why?! So we can become best friends and I won't assume you and her are sleeping together behind my back?! For the first several months that we were together, that woman has given me hell for being with you. The last thing that I want is to make peace with her right now!" She quickly got up and began to zip close her suitcase. I quickly rose to my feet and turned her around to kiss her passionately. For the first two seconds, she kissed me back and I felt hope that in those two seconds, she changed her mind about leaving. In those two seconds I felt more emotions than I have felt for the past thirty-two years. There's no denying that I am in love with this woman, but once those two seconds were gone, I felt as though she really didn't love or want me at all anymore. She quickly forced herself away from me and just stared at me with tears in her eyes. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare play any more mind games with me Brian Haner Jr! You clearly made your point on who you really wanted, and I won't stay here to witness any of it." She grabbed her suitcase and began making her way out.

"Evelyn, please don't go." Tears started falling down my face as my heart began to break. I followed her all the way downstairs to the front door. "Evelyn, please. I love you." My voice cracked on those last three words and she stopped dead in her tracks, one foot outside and the other balancing itself on the tip of the big toe inside. It was quiet and still, perhaps a little too quiet and still. "I love you so much Evelyn." I slowly made my way towards her until I was literally two steps away from her. "Please don't leave me." I began to slowly reach out to her, but by the time my hand was about to touch her back, I heard a sobbing sigh.

"Goodbye Brian." She whispered to me before she walked out and slammed the door shut behind her. From then on, I knew that this was real. Nothing I say or do at this point was going to make her come back. With tears falling down heavily from my eyes, I stood at the window and stared outside as the love of my life cried while tossing her suitcase in her car and drove away from our home. Part of me knew that she was leaving for good, but something inside of me was really convincing me that she will come back.


-NINE HOURS LATER-

Since Evelyn left, I was still convincing myself every hour she's been gone that something in her will snap and make her come back. She'll be back, I know she will. I cleaned up the entire house from top to bottom, corner to corner, inch by inch. In high hopes that when she comes back, she will notice what I did for her and will be happy. I even threw out every ounce of alcohol that I owned, including my secret stash, in hopes that she will realize how serious I am about us. She'll come back.


-TWO DAYS LATER-

Yesterday I spent most of the day calling Evelyn in hopes that she would answer the phone, texting her like crazy hoping that she would text me back. Each time my phone rang or beeped, my heart would race and I would dive to my phone to see if Evelyn was the one responding, only to see that it was either one of the guys or a family member. No matter, I was still convinced that Evelyn was coming back. Today, I am doing what Evelyn has been begging me to do ever since she told me that she was pregnant. I am cleaning out the guest room next to our bedroom and fixing the nursery for the first time. I bought every single item that I knew she would like for our baby, and placed it in the right spot. Now I am no expert when it comes to decorating, but once Evelyn comes back home, she'll help me fix it. She'll come back.


-TWO WEEKS AND THREE DAYS LATER-

She'll come back. I know she will. The nursery is done, she has to come back.


-TWO MONTHS LATER-

Voicemail number thirty-two:
'Brian, it's Arin. Hey are you okay man? It's been two months and none of us have heard from either you or Evelyn. We are all worried, and Mercedes is freaking out so bad. She's actually thinking as far as you running away with, or even killing, Evelyn. I pray to God that she's wrong. Zacky's trying to keep her calm, but nothing's working anymore. But listen call me back, please.'


-FOUR DAYS LATER-

Last voicemail:
'LISTEN TO ME YOU FUCKER! YOU BETTER NOT HAVE EVEN TOUCHED MY BABY SISTER! I'M CALLING THE POLICE RIGHT NOW AND YOU BETTER PRAY TO GOD THAT EVELYN IS OKAY! YOU HEAR ME?!'


-ONE HOUR LATER-

The front door is kicked open and in the distance I can hear Mercedes screaming for Evelyn. For the past two months I have been coming to bed to lay on my side and just stare at the side Evelyn used to claim as hers. Images of her laying next to me have prevented me from moving all night, but lately it's been getting worse. I haven't slept, ate or even showered for the past four days when the idea of her coming back was starting slowly fade. The police barged into my room, as well as a furious Mercedes, and all of them just stared at me. I came to and realized that I had been repeating my hope in a whisper to myself all this time. "She'll come back. She'll come back. She'll come back."

By this time, I guess Mercedes realized that I didn't murder my love, but I was simply missing her. "Brian, where is Evelyn?" She asked in a much calmer tone.

I felt myself move for the very first time, and the image of Evelyn next to me faded away. I looked to see everyone still staring at me. Mercedes looked more concerned than angry. "She... she left me."

Notes