Gone

Girl you hurt me when you left me
Tell me where did you go
The time is passing
I’m realizing, that babe, I needed you so

Picking up the remote from his night stand, Justin shut off the radio after hearing the sad voice penetrating his house, and his mind, going deeper into his soul as he analyzed the situation he was in.

He was hurt. Deeply hurt. The pain had no end. He didn’t know what to do with himself. His heart was breaking slowly, but surely.

It had been seven days since she had walked out of his life. Seven days since she trampled over his heart, leaving him in a fit of mixed emotions. In the past week, he had gone through every sentiment imaginable. He had been sad, angry, hurt, confused… all because she had left. And reality was setting in that she wasn’t coming back.

Justin sat in his silent mansion, for what seemed to be the millionth hour since she’d left. It wasn’t very late. In fact, it was only 10pm, but the darkness of the cold December night in Memphis made it feel more like 4am.

He sat up in his king sized bed with the red satin sheets. He was restless. He got up and walked out the door of his bedroom, across the landing to one of his many guest rooms. The one that she kept all of her things in. The room even smelled like her. Raspberries and roses. It was an interesting combination, and an uncommon one at that. But it was a scent that he endeared, and one that he would miss.

She had left in such a hurry; she didn’t bother to take her stuff with her. He opened the closet to find all of her clothes still hung neatly, color-coordinated, of course. Her shoes were placed strategically on the floor. He smiled at her organization. His closet was a disaster area compared to hers. On the dresser, all her jewelry was laid out, along with her perfumes and body sprays.

Everything was the same. The room was hardly indicative of the changes his heart had been through. Everything remained untouched, as if she had just gone to the store for some milk, instead of having walked out of his life forever. But the simple fact was that she was gone.

Justin walked slowly out of the room and down the massive flight of stairs, passing the living room. The living room that contained dozens of pictures of them. Pictures commemorating their happy times together. He traipsed through the kitchen. The kitchen in which they had shared hundreds of meals. The kitchen that she prepared meals for him full of love. He finally made it to the den, plopping onto his black leather couch next to the phone.

“I have to get her back here,” he said to himself, on the verge of tears. Crying wasn’t something he was very big on, but at a time like this, it was going to be hard to contain himself.

He dialed her familiar numbers quickly, and waited for her to answer the phone. He waited. Four rings, five rings. He knew that she always answered on the third ring if she was home. But he patiently allowed the answering machine to pick up.

Hi, you’ve reached 901-876-6128. Unfortunately, I’m not here to take your call but please leave your name and number and a brief message and I’ll return your call as soon as possible. Bye Bye Bye,” she sang, ending the message. She sounded so cheerful, so full of life. While Justin sat there almost dead. He waited for the beep and tried to stammer out a message, but with no luck, gave up.

He hung up the phone with a heavy heart, and went back up to his room. He laid on his bed with the red satin sheets, and Justin Timberlake did something he rarely allowed himself to do. He cried.

He fell asleep with all the pain in the world in his heart. That pain didn’t allow him to sleep very long. He envisioned her face in his dreams. He saw himself with her, able to touch her, able to feel her. But reality came crashing into his dreams, waking him up after what seemed like days.

His surroundings were driving him crazy. His house just seemed to scream her name. Everything about it reminded him of her. Her spirit had overcome the house, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

So he sat in his bed, and stared out of the window and into the city of Memphis. His home. His pride and joy. He loved everything about the small, but captivating city. The city that brought him the love of his life.

He would never forget meeting her, that night on Beale Street at the Blues City Café. He remembered her smile when he approached her. He remembered her laugh as they talked all night about everything and nothing at all. He remembered the joy in her eyes as they walked along the river, hand in hand.

Memphis. It was his life. Despite all the success and fame, he never let go of his hometown pride.

Until now.

The city that had brought him so much happiness in the past 22 years of his life just brought him sadness and agony now. Memphis. The home of the blues. Well that definitely rang true in Justin’s case. And at this point, his rural mansion could be the headquarters for the blues, because his heart was filled with nothing but sorrow.

The tears streamed down his cheeks once again as he tore his eyes from the window and made his way back downstairs to call her again. This time, there was no holding back. If there was any chance he had of getting her back, he couldn’t let chauvinistic pride get in his way.

He dialed the numbers, yet again, waiting the six rings before her answering machine picked up. In the back of his mind, he knew she was there, listening to his words and the slow shatter of his heart. He knew that if she wasn’t with him, that she was in her bed watching ComicView at midnight on a Monday. But knowing that she was listening was all the fuel that he needed to pour out his heart.

“Nicole, I know you’re there. You don’t have to answer, but please, just listen.” He didn’t know what he wanted her to listen to, but he decided to talk anyway. “Nic, the most inspiring words I’ve ever heard came from your mouth. Remember when we first met? When we first fell in love?” The tears rolled furiously down his face, but he continued. “When I found you, my soul said to me ‘At last, I can rest. I’ve found my mate.’ When I found you, my heart recognized you as a part of it’s own. Listen to your heart. I know it’s saying the same thing. Don’t throw away that bond. Not like this. I love you. Talk to me.”

And with that, he hung up the phone and waited. He waited for her to call back. He waited for the phone to ring. He sat there for hours on end, just waiting. But she never called back. The phone never rang.

And Justin knew that he had to accept that. His heart told him to embrace the truth. But how could he embrace something so ugly and tragic?

No matter what he said, or what he did, the truth would remain that she was… gone.

Back to Short Stories