It got to the point where you left this letter... Don't you want to know how it happened?
Do you remember how it all started, Liam?

It was a cold November evening. The kind where the sky is too grey, and people keep their heads down, walking fast to escape whatever is chasing them. But not you. You were sitting alone on that broken bench, a cigarette hanging from your lips, eyes lost in a place that didn’t exist. You weren’t sad. You weren’t angry. You were... numb.

And I, like the fool I was, thought I could bring you back to life.

I was the first to speak. Of course I was. You had that gravity, that quiet storm energy that pulls people in. You barely replied at first, but you kept coming back. Same bench. Same time. Until one day, you smiled. Just a little. I thought I had won.

It wasn’t a fairytale.
It wasn’t flowers and butterflies.
It was screaming at 3AM, crying into pillows, clinging to each other like the world was on fire. It was real. Messy. Honest.

You told me I was your light.
That without me, you were nothing.
And I believed you.

God, Liam, I loved you in a way that burned through my bones.
I stood by you when no one else did.
When you dropped out of school, I stood tall for you.
When you shut the world out, I stayed.
When the panic attacks hit, I held your hand.
When you doubted yourself, I shouted for the both of us.
I picked you up from the floor more times than I can count.

But you...
You never looked down to see I was starting to fall, too.

It wasn’t all at once.
You didn’t turn cold in a day.
You just... faded.
Less calls. Less texts. More excuses. More silence.
And when you did come back, it was always with the same “I’m sorry, I love you.”
And I, stupidly, kept forgiving you.
Because I was scared that without you, I’d be nothing too.

But I lost myself trying to save you.
I watched my laugh die, my eyes dull, my heart bleed.
Until one morning, I looked in the mirror and saw someone I didn’t recognize.
Someone empty.
Like you, that night on the bench.

And that’s when I knew.
I still loved you.
But I needed to love myself more.

So today, I packed my things.
I didn’t wake you.
I left the key on the table.
And this letter.

Not to hurt you. Not to make you beg.
Just so you’d finally hear me.

You didn’t lose me all at once, Liam.
You lost me piece by piece.
Every time you forgot me.
Every time you let me cry alone.
Every time you made me feel like I didn’t matter.

I’m leaving, Liam.
And I won’t come back this time.

You’ve never known what it feels like to live without me.
But you’re about to.