Heartless.

Anna had just finished her shift in the busy city, right in the heart of New York. She was tired now more than ever. She was doing her best to make it in the Big Apple with nothing but a fashion degree and a dream. But sometimes she felt like giving up; like nothing was going to work out. Today was one of those many days. But nothing cheered her up like going home to her humble studio apartment to see her boyfriend, Ryan, after a long day’s worth of work.
It was a dark, rainy day outside. She opened up her umbrella and chuckled at how the gloomy weather matched her mood. She scurried her way, bobbing and weaving through New York foot traffic, trying not to slip on the wet concrete. Making her way through the mile-long trek home, all she could think about was arriving home to Ryan’s warm embrace.
She finally got to their building. She shuffled around her messy purse until she managed to get a hold of her keys and open the doors to the staircase. She ran up those stairs like Rocky Balboa and finally got to their apartment. She unlocked the door and burst through with sheer excitement.
Anna entered the apartment and was immediately puzzled because none of the lights were on. Was Ryan not home? She searched their place, checking every room until she found him in the kitchen. He was sitting there with a blank, emotionless stare. The window was wide open, and the floor was littered with broken plates and stray kitchen utensils. Something clearly had happened.
“What happened?” she asked. Ryan didn’t even respond. He just sat there with the same empty gaze.
“Baby, what happened?” she asked again, intent on getting an answer. This time, Ryan stood up slowly, walked to the window, and looked out of it. With his back turned to Anna, he said quietly in a weird voice, “We can no longer be together.”
What was happening? She had just arrived home to this dark mess, and all of a sudden, Ryan was breaking up with her? Why was he acting like this? What had she done? Why was he talking like that?
“What do you mean?” she asked, holding back a flood of emotion and tears.
With his back still turned away from her, he responded in the same, distant voice; “I will not be a part of your life anymore. Forget I ever existed.” he said calmly.
She cried out in desperation, looking for any answers and ways to fix this; “Why are you doing this? What did I do? When did you stop caring about me? About us?”
She walked up to him and placed her hand on his chest. Except, where she should’ve felt his heartbeat, instead, she felt a cold, almost metallic presence.
It filled her with an awful blend of horror and disgust. She looked up to meet his eyes, looking for any possible explanation for that thing inside of him.
At the same time, he turned around and looked at her with what she swore was a red light inside of his eye. He opened his mouth, and spoke again. This time, with a distinct, robotic voice; “I was not wired to care.”
He pushed her off of his body and looked away towards the window again. He stood still for a second, and he jumped. He just jumped out the window. She was paralyzed, stuck in shock of what had just gone down.
She ran to the window and looked down, expecting to see his lifeless body. Instead, she found a large crater, with no body to be found.
Her head was spinning. All she could manage to do was walk to her couch, sit, and think to herself, trying to make sense of this.
Ryan was her whole life, but whoever, or whatever had jumped out that window, was not him. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Never to be seen again.
