Mat opened the front door of his girlfriend’s house. It was her birthday and he was planning on surprising her. He had several gifts that had taken him months to save up for; plus he had brought chocolate and a small stuffed bear that reminded Mat of her. After bringing her the presents, he planned to take her out for a nice dinner, though he couldn’t afford an expensive dinner on top of the presents. It had taken months of planning and saving but he was certain it would be worth it. Seeing her smile was his reward for all of this.

  When he entered the living room, Mary wasn’t there. She was probably in her room. Her house was spacious as she could live off campus. Her family was rather wealthy.

  The living room was beautiful; polished wooden boards with an expensive looking rug covering most of it. The sofa was fancy leather that Mat would probably combust if told the price. The fireplace was covered by stone which led to a chimney. A fire roared inside it, so Mat knew she was home. In her room, most likely.

  Mat slowly made his way up to her room, avoiding the squeaky floorboard so as not to alert her. If she heard it would just ruin the surprise.

  As he approached the door, he heard a strange noise coming from behind the door. It sounded like, springs bouncing up and down on the bed. Suddenly, Mat got a bad feeling about what he would see on the other side of the door. Still though, he didn’t want to assume the worst. Mary was his girlfriend of two years. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. The door opened silently as Mat pushed it, hiding the bag of gifts behind his back. The sight that met him left his mouth slightly open, the bag on the floor now, forgotten. His girlfriend was lying on the bed, Mat’s best friend, Tom, on top of her. Both were naked. Mat turned away immediately. He didn’t want to see it. It wasn’t real. This was a dream.

  Rustling came from the room, the sound of clothes rapidly being out on.

  “Mat.” His girlfriend said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  Mat didn’t respond.

  “Look, it’s not what it looks like.” She said. “There was a bug that crawled past my clothes and got on my skin and Tom was trying to get it off. It’s bite stings like hell.” She said, laughing half-heartedly.

  “Why is he here?” Mat asked, not turning to look at either of them.

  “I was helping her study.” Tom said defensively. “You need to stop being so paranoid.”

  Mat could have laughed out loud if the situation wasn’t so depressing. After what he had witnessed, he had to stop being so paranoid. What a joke. Mary walked in front of him, touching his face and looking into his eyes.

  “Mat, nothing was going on between us.” She said softly. “You know I love you and only you.”

  Mat wanted to believe it. To grasp onto every soft, comforting lie. But he couldn’t. It would only lead to more heartbreak. As much as it hurt, he had to let go. He allowed himself to look at Mary once more. Her pale face was soft, her blonde hair messy, blocking part of her face. Her blue eyes shone brightly. HE turned his head slightly and saw Tom. His short curly blonde hair complimented him well, making him look like the perfect match for Mary. Tears welled up in his eyes as he met Mary’s beautiful eyes, gently raising his hand to remove hers from his face. His cheeks felt wet.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I hope you two are happy together.” He said, turning toward the stairs. He could no longer see them, but he could feel Tom’s smugness and Mary’s regret. He picked up the bag of presents, the ones he had spent almost half of a year saving up for before walking away from them.

  “Mat, please wait.” Mary called after him.

  “Just let him go.” Tom said. “He was never good enough for you anyway.”

  The drive was full of sobbing as he slowly drove through the evening. The sun was setting behind the tall buildings that surrounded him, leaving an orange hue in the sky. Mat considered driving home, but decided against it. His brother and sister, luckily, were almost dorm neighbours, so he went to see them. They were the only people that cared about him, he now realised. His parents had always been distant, considering the large number of young children they had to care for, so he never felt loved by them much. His younger siblings, while he loved them, he barely knew. There had never been much interaction between them. In the end, he had only bonded with his twin brother and his slightly younger sister. The age difference was only about a year and a bit, so they had grown up together.

  His friends had all been superficial in the end. Friends by proximity. Once they no longer saw each other, it quickly died. Other than Tom, but he had now slept with his girlfriend, so he wasn’t really a friend either. With his girlfriend cheating on him, he had nobody other than his brother and sister.

  He got out of his car forty-five minutes later, taking a while to get himself presentable. It would be inappropriate to turn up at the door blubbering like an upset child. He entered the building and walked until he reached his sister’s room. There was a high chance that David, his brother, would also be in there. Mat took a deep breath, adjusted his clothes, wiped his cheeks in case any tears remained on them, and knocked on the door. He heard light footsteps walk along the floor, and a moment later the door opened. Evelyn, his sister, appeared in the doorway, followed by David. David looked almost exactly like Mat, other than one small section of hair which was golden instead of dark brown. Evelyn and Mat both possessed the same dark brown hair as each other, as well as green eyes, which David also possessed. Without saying a word, Evelyn gave Mat a tight, warm hug before shuffling him in. David closed the door quietly before joining the others.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked seriously.

  “What do you mean?” Mat asked, acting like nothing was wrong. “I’m fine.”

  Evelyn gave him a look, and Mat finally told them. He explained the entire story, leaving out the part about saving up for months and underplaying the visual he saw when entering her room. As he finished, he found himself crying again, his siblings hugging him comfortingly. David broke away and began pacing the room.

  “I should give Tom a piece of my mind tomorrow.” David said. “He can’t just treat my brother like that.”

  “It’s fine.” Mat said. “She deserved better than me anyway. I’ve been saying that for ages.”

  “Are you joking.” Evie said. “She deserves to rot for what she’s done to you. She’s lost the most important person she’ll ever have in her life because she’s stupid. You shouldn’t think of her anymore. It’s her loss.”

  Mat didn’t feel that way. He already missed her.

  “Maybe if I talk to her about it -”

  “No!” They both said in union.

  “All she’ll do is lie to you so she can reel you back in.” Evie said. “There’s no reasonable excuse for cheating.”

  David nodded his agreement. A couple of hours later, Mat was driving back home. His siblings had tried to convince him to stay for the night but he had refused. As he was driving home, a white light suddenly invaded his whole self. It felt like the sun had been shoved into his head. He tried screaming for help, but no sound escaped his mouth. It felt like his body had disintegrated and his mind was floating in a white void. Could this be death? Had his heart given out and now he was ascending to heaven. He had never been a religious person, so this was an unexpected turn of events. Hopefully he would be forgiven for not believing. As he thought this, he saw something come into view. It wasn’t the classic image of heaven though. Instead, it was a dense forest.