“Wanna talk about it?” he pried.

“Excuse me?”

“Something is obviously bothering you. I can see it in your eyes. Talk to me,” he invited, whipping off his apron and sitting down beside her. “I’m on my break.”

“No thanks. I’m fine,” Anna murmured, gulping down her drink. She stood up. As she approached the door, she couldn’t help but look back and see if he was still watching her.

Trent’s eyes were fixed on her, tracking her every movement. Anna turned away and disappeared out the door, her heart in a flutter. Just the idea someone thought she was worth watching made her head spin. But it hurt her to think that someone wasn’t the man she was supposed to marry.

By the time she was throwing her clothes into her bag, the tears were flowing constantly. She was determined to not be in the room when James got back. She knew it would be too hard to face him. Anna kept telling herself that if she just vanished he would forget; he’d give up. But the idea of seeing him had Anna trembling. The hard reality of saying that dreaded goodbye made her shake with fear. She knew this was going to hurt like hell.

Ciao. Au revoir. Adieu. Adios. Bon voyage. Farewell. Goodbye. Anna knew they were the hardest words in the world to say. They were the words that hurt the most. They cut deeply into the soul, scarring it for life in a way that it can never recover. Those are the words that you remember forever. They are the closure you dread; the words that can break your heart. Anna knew it didn’t really matter which language they were in; they still held hurt all the same. They were the words Anna had spent her whole life avoiding. And now if she could only run fast and far enough she could avoid them once again.

She slid into the driver’s seat of her car, her cheeks stained with mascara, her eyes puffy and red from the non-stop crying. The only way Anna could keep her hands firmly locked on the steering wheel was by chanting to herself ‘no matter how much it hurts, in the end it is the right thing to do, for both of us.’

***

James

James sped through the traffic, barely even slowing to take the corners. He flew out of the car and ran up the stairs, not even bothering to take the lift. He came to a screeching halt before he opened the suite door. What the hell will I do if I’m too late? he asked himself. Slowly, he creaked open the door. No sign of her. He raced in and pulled open the wardrobe door; James’s worst fears were confirmed. She was gone. He was too late. He was too late to save her. He was too late to fight to get her back. He slumped to the floor and stared. He didn’t cry. He didn’t whimper. He just sat in all consuming silence as his heart broke.

Someone had once told James that if the world disappoints, the best thing to do was to look at it from a different angle. Now he was sitting on the floor in silence, looking at the world from a different angle. Anna had left in such a hurry; she had left one of her running shoes lying on the ground. That is so Cinderella of her, James thought miserably. That is when he saw the note, leaning against the vase in the centre of the table.

James leapt up and grabbed the envelope before sitting down crossed-legged on the floor. He was too terrified to open it. He just sat there, staring at it. On the front, written in Anna’s familiar scrawl, was his name. A knock at the door startled him and brought him crashing back down to earth. Predictably, in walked Justin.

“You okay?” Justin asked, wincing. He had followed James back to the hotel.

“She left a note,” James said, waving it in front of Justin’s face.

“What does it say?” Justin asked.

“I can’t open it. What if it says she doesn’t love me? How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that shit? I would have given her the world. I would have done anything for her and it still wasn’t enough. She still didn’t love me enough to stay,” James babbled.

“Open it,” Justin ordered.

Slowly James ripped it open. He pulled out a piece of pink paper and just stared blankly at it. Cautiously he unfolded it, careful not to tear it.

James, I love you so much, but you deserve better. To be fair, I decided the easiest way for us to say goodbye was simply for me to disappear. I will always love you and I promise I will never forget you.

I’m yours always, Anna.

It was as if the letter had turned a tap on inside James. Now tears were gushing out, running down over his cheeks. Justin fell to the floor beside him and clamped a hand on his shoulder. James had been crushed. Anna had left him devastated and now, Justin had no idea what to say or how to comfort him.

“Justin, where the fuck is she? I need to find her. Please. Help me,” James begged, lifting his head up slowly and looking straight into Justin’s shocked eyes.

“She really didn’t say all that much. Mainly she said she’d disappear to make it easier on you. Make it easier for you to let her go.” Justin tried his best to console his friend. “If you’re serious about finding her, I’ll help you. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Thanks. I’m going to need it,” James declared, standing up and grabbing his keys before heading towards the door.

“Well,” Justin started, springing to his feet, “you know her better than I do. If you were Anna, where would you go if you wanted to vanish?” As the words sunk in, James decided that Justin was right.

***

Anna

Anna drove ferociously. She was dodging and swerving across both sides of the road. Tears stung her eyes and she was gasping for breath, but still she didn’t slow. She was driving recklessly. Her chest was tight and her hands trembled as she white-knuckled the steering wheel. Anna was completely exhausted from the emotional roller coaster she had been riding all day. Her only hope of staying awake was to have the window wound right down so the cold night air could blow against her face. Without a thought in her head, Anna rested her head on the steering wheel and closed her eyes. Just for a moment Anna took her eyes off the winding road and the car drifted. It bounced down a small ditch before colliding with a rock and being thrown sideways. After thirty terrifying seconds of rolling and scraping, the car came to a screeching halt on its roof. Anna was unconscious, a steady stream of thick red blood oozing from her forehead. Her face had been mutilated by shards of flying glass and was now nothing but a scratched, bloody mess.

Chapter 3

James

James started on the phone, calling all of Anna’s family and friends. He rang anyone who may have had an idea as to where she would have gone. No one had seen or heard from her. James began to panic as the realisation sank in that he may have lost her.

“She’ll turn up. She has to,” Justin tried to reassure him. James couldn’t work out if he was telling the truth or just trying to make him feel better. Whichever it was it made it a little more bearable for those few moments.

“I have a really bad idea,” Justin mentioned nervously.

“Anything. Please, man. I’m desperate,” James begged.

“I know. Well, you are pretty well known right…” James just nodded, encouraging Justin to continue. “You could go on television and ask for help. I don’t know. Say you’ll take them to dinner or something if it’s their lead that finds Anna. I mean it’s a long shot, but if you’re desperate…”

James’s eyes filled with hope. “You’re right. That will work! It has to,” James declared. Before Justin had time to say anything else James was already on the telephone, dialling the number.

It didn’t take long before someone called in. A farmer had seen Anna’s car lying upside down in the ditch as he was passing. Immediately he slammed on his brakes and raced towards the car. When he got close enough he could see Anna lying motionless in the front seat, covered in blood, still strapped into the driver’s seat. He ran back to the car and found his phone and called for the ambulance. When they arrived less than ten minutes later, the agitated farmer had already become increasingly concerned. The smell of petrol hung heavily on the air and the thought that the car could burst into flames at any moment kept racing through his mind. Luckily, the ambulance officers together with the local fire brigade managed to pull her from the wreckage in one piece before they raced her back through the streets towards the hospital.