His knuckles brushed lightly against mine. The smell of the recent rain drifted around us as the sea breeze tossed my hair around like a rag doll as I bounced joyfully up the beach, the cold, wet sand squishing in between my toes.

“I love you,” I smiled.

“Courtney….” He stopped, taking a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” I stopped too, worried.

“I can’t do this anymore, I can’t pretend, I’m sorry.”

I gaped, my mouth wide open, my lip quivering, holding back the tears. It was silent except for the rolling foamy waves crashing on shore.

“I can’t pretend…I’m done…I just…I…your....I don’t love you anymore.” He attempted to make his tone sound soft, almost apologetic.

“What?” I whispered my shaking voice barely audible over the waves.

“Goodbye,” he walked over and kissed my forehead, and walked off the beach, just like that.

For what felt like an hour, I just stood there, unmoved, the hot tears, streaming down my frozen cheeks.

It was unreal, it was a joke. Any minute now he would come running down the beach roaring with laughter, screaming, “APRIL FOOLS!” But he never came back.

It was just me, and the ocean.

I sat down on the wet sand and hugged my knees, the sobs hammering every bone, every joint, every muscle in my body. It was funny how things could go from perfect to horrible just like that.

Was it all a joke to him? Had it been like that to him from the beginning? Or was I the one in desperate need of a wake up call?

I grabbed a handful of sand and picked it up, slowly letting it all fall back to the earth.

The sand, slipping through my fingers, slipping away, just like he did.