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"please don't be mad. it was just a mistake."
i sit on the park bench, immobile, disbelieving.
"please?"
"i'm not mad," i reply softly.
"i knew you'd understand!" you grab me in a big hug and then leave me, sitting there, like you have so many times before. leaving me for something better on the horizon.

it's not until after you're gone that i repeat, "i'm not mad." i kick at a pile of pebbles on the ground, scattering them all away from each other. like us, i think. we scatter away from each other. i kneel down and gather all the pebbles back into a pile again. picking up the broken pieces and glueing them together again. like us, i think. we have always repieced ourselves back together after we scatter.

i sit back down on the bench, and once again, i say out loud, "i'm not mad. i'm disappointed." i watch you walk away to your brighter, better things. things that are brighter and better than me. i burrow even deeper into my coat as i whisper softly, "and being disappointed in you is even worse."

i sit there on that park bench until it gets dark. then i get up and leave. i don't even notice that the pebbles from the pile have been flung apart again by the wind.