Goodbye

I paused for a moment in the small kitchen of the house. I turned around and my eyes found a small, framed picture. I stared at it for a few minutes.

Then, I looked up. She had not made a sound, but I could always tell when she entered a room. It was always as if an electrical charge had just ran through the room, my body, and when I saw her, I felt alive.

"Go to bed," I said softly.

She only looked at me.

"You're leaving," she said, a dull, dead tone in her voice. I looked at her for a few moments more, then sighed and dropped my gaze.

"Yes."

"Why?" Her tone was stronger now. She ran to me and pressed herself against my chest. "You're leaving your wife and your sons on their own, to fend for their selves… How can you do this to us?"

"I won't be gone long," I reassured her, firmly separating her from me. Even as I said it, I felt something wither and die in my heart. "I promise."

I wiped a tear away from her cheek.

"I don't believe you," she whispered, searching my face for something that was not there. "You're leaving for good!"

"Shh," I said, putting a finger to her lips. "Stay quiet, now, Trisha. Wouldn't want to wake the boys."

"Maybe I should!" she said, but her voice was lower, quieter, and somehow more threatening. "Maybe I should wake them, so they can see once and for all how much of a coward their father is!"

"What makes you think I am a coward?" I asked her, feigning surprise… She didn't know. She couldn't know…

She glared at me, silently accusing me of so much. "You…you don't want to stay here and raise your sons," she hissed at me. "You don't want to. You can. But you're too afraid."

My fingers trailed along her arm. "You could not be farther away from the truth, my love."

I tried to embrace her. She just pushed me away. There was a knock at the door. Without a word, I turned and left the house, heading towards the horse-drawn carriage waiting on the street.

Trisha followed me to the door. When I was almost to the carriage, she called, "Then what is the truth, Hohenheim? What is your reason for leaving us?"

Just as I began to board the carriage, I looked back. "One day," I said. "I will tell you. I give you my word."

I stepped into the carriage and closed the door. The driver shook the reins and the horses started to trot away.

As my house and my wife began to disappear into the distance, I heard her voice, screaming.

"Come back to us!" she cried. "Don't leave me! Hohenheim…I love you!"

Inside of my chest, whatever part of my heart I had left crumbled to pieces.

He never did get the chance to tell her.

Woah this is an old story. I wrote it a couple of months ago, when my passion for Fullmetal Alchemist was rekindling. I know it's crap, but I felt like posting it. Besides, my other story (my first non-crappy multi-chapter FMA story) should be done within a month or two, and that is a great story, so it'll make up for this one's lameness.

Thank you so much for reading and please review and tell me whether or not I should just throw my computer out now and go live on the streets as a hobo. :)