“Justin” Howard said while he opened the door and walked inside his son’s room. Justin looked up quickly and scrambled off the bed, knowing he was grounded and he should be working on his homework. Justin was surprised when his father didn’t say anything about it, instead he extracted an envelope with his name on it.

“A letter came for you” Howard told him as he handed it to his son before he turned and left the room. Justin stared at the envelope, who would send me a letter? And why would his father give it to him this easily? He didn’t move from his spot, questions running through his mind that he had no answer to. Finally he lifted the envelope in front of his face and stared at his name, address and zipcode. Slowly he walked to his bed, sitting down carefully before he turned the envelope and opened it. As he opened the folded paper he was shocked to see it was Josh’s handwriting and he quickly started reading; maybe there was still a chance….

Dear Justin,

There is no easy way of telling you this so I’ll make it easy for the both of us and just come out and say it. I think it’s time for us to break up. We’ve been dating for so long but it feels like we’re not getting anywhere. We can’t keep sneaking around and the excuses won’t keep coming. We will never be able to really be with each other without being afraid of your father and that’s not the kind of relationship I want to have with you. I can’t do it any more, I need more out of a relationship and you will never be able to give that to me. I’m sorry and it breaks my heart but this is goodbye. Take care of yourself Justin,

Love Always,

Josh

Tears escaped his eyes, running freely down his pale cheeks, the letter whirled to the floor as the energy drained from his body. He stared at his hands, not able to move, too shocked to comprehend this. The words ‘break up’ and ‘this is goodbye’ constantly replaying in his mind. He grabbed his curls, pulling at them to stop the words from repeating again and again. He felt the room started to spin, tears mist his eyes and clouded his brain. He felt his heart throbbing in his head and that was the only reminder that he still had one as he’d read the letter it’d felt like his heart got cut into pieces before it got ripped out totally. His stomach hurt and the pain in his heart, body and soul was unbearable.

“Please” he whispered through his tears,

“No. No. No. No. No” he repeated over and over again, every word accompanied by a hard tug on his hair. He buried his face in his pillow as the sobs wrecked his young body,

“No Josh, no, please…” he hiccuped,

“I love you”