There is no such thing as love. No one is born with this important piece of wisdom. It has to be learned. And it is the most painful lesson in the world.
"No." Such a simple word. Yet so devastating to hear when told to you from a loved one, staring straight into your eyes. Percy was on his knees. His enthusiasm was gone, replaced with a far more sinister feeling of worthlessness. A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. Not since his mother passed.
"Why?" He asks. His voice is filled with shock and sorrow.
She utters the words he never wanted to hear, "I don't love you anymore, Percy."
Hers was an angelic face. Her intelligent grey eyes, speckled with beauty. But this was no comfort now, no. Only the cause for more sorrow.
Everything they had done together crossed his mind. Their first kiss in the midst of danger. The day she said yes to becoming his girlfriend. The moment they shared in midst of their trek across Tartarus. The first time they shared a bed. What once were treasured memories now became torture. Every second he stares at her brings about infinite agony. Her beauty mocks him.
What surprises him the most is that there was no anger in him. Only self-pity. He had always wondered what he did to deserve love? What on earth did he do, to deserve a woman like that? What the fuck did he do to deserve a chance at happiness?
He stares at the diamond ring in his hands. He had sold away the next ten years of his life for it. For this gesture. Up until this moment he was prepared to sell the rest of his life for this woman.
He turns to ashamed to face anyone and runs into the woods. What pains him most is that she doesn't call for him. Not a single sound to show that she regrets this. He turns back to see her face one last time. There was a single tear on her cheek. But no tear would ever bring him back to this moment, to her.
He runs. He runs. He no longer feels. No longer thinks. He moves and moves and moves until his legs give way and he collapsed to the cold dirt floor.
All of a sudden, he feels. Betrayal, sorrow, agony, pain courses across his mind. Curses himself for the mistake he made. For feeling. He swears never again to feel. And there is only one way not to feel. It is to embrace the darkness.
He hears a low growl coming from behind the trees. He turns to face the intruder and sees a seven-foot grizzly bear. It was a sign. A sign from the gods above. A means for him to embrace the dark.
Living means feeling pain. Percy didn't want to feel pain. Not anymore. They say that life is much easier when you had people loving you, but what they never say is that there is no such thing as love. Love is an excuse. An excuse to feel pain. An excuse to keep living, to keep feeling. These were not things he wanted. He wanted to be free. And to be free, one must be brave enough to take the first step.
He raised his arms. Take me.
The end was swift. The pain…far less than what he would have felt if he lived.