"She's not coming back!" He screamed.

You freeze, you insides coiling and turning to stone. Your eyes are wide.

He sighs, looks away. "I'm sorry. She's not. So please stop acting like one day we'll wake up and she'll be standing there like nothing ever happened."

You flex your fingers, swallow the dry lump in your throat and look at your feet. Your words are stuck on your tongue, where they glued themselves the moment he opened his mouth to yell. It's not like you didn't know this. You know she'll never return. She can't step through that door like she always did, smiling, with a joke already on it's way out her month.

"I'm sorry," You rasp. "I... I know she's not. I guess - I like thinking someday she may. It's easier."

He looks at you out the corner of his eyes. You can see words dance across his eyes, until they fade, and something colder sets in. His hands disappear into his pockets. "Well you shouldn't. It doesn't do any good. She's never coming back, and you have to get over it."