"Enough, Mark!" I shouted, my voice breaking. "I’m done with this. I’m done with you. Just leave!"
Mark’s face contorted with rage, his hands shaking as he threw his glass onto the pavement, shattering it at my feet. "Fine! Don’t ever come back, Jane! Don’t you dare come crawling back to me!"
With that, he turned and stormed away, disappearing into the night without a backward glance. I stood there, staring after him, my whole body trembling with the weight of everything that had just happened. My ankle throbbed where the glass had hit it, but the pain felt distant compared to the hollow ache in my chest.
The boy bent down to pick up his broken camera, still glaring in the direction Mark had gone. "Are you okay? That guy’s out of his mind."
I nodded weakly, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on me. "I’m sorry about your camera. I’ll find a way to pay you back."
He shook his head, his anger softening as he looked at me. "Forget it. I can get another one. You, though... you should get out of whatever mess that guy’s pulled you into. No one deserves to be treated like that."
I smiled faintly, though the bitterness in my heart threatened to overwhelm me. "I know," I whispered. "And I will."
As I turned to leave, the weight of my decision settled in. It was time to rebuild my life, time to find the person I had lost in the years with Mark. It was time to chase my own dreams again.
