Literally Die in His Tenderness

Chapter 1

The night Troy killed me, he did it with an ax, on my "birthday". "You want to break up? Fine. I'll make sure you're really broken up," he snarled, swinging the ax. I fought, screamed, and begged, but he shoved my torn body into two sacks, his eyes gleaming with twisted satisfaction. "Now, I can be with Terra for real," he whispered, setting my remains on fire.

...

I loved Troy for eight years, four years of crushing, four years of dating. But it meant nothing to him. He chose his childhood sweetheart over me, and I accepted it quietly. Until he showed up on my birthday, kneeling outside my house, begging for me back on a live broadcast. "Just let me hold you one last time," he pleaded, tears streaming down his face.

The comments flooded in, urging me to give him a chance. "He's sincere!" they said. "Love like this doesn't come twice!"

I hesitated, my heart torn between the man I once loved and the lingering sting of his betrayal. He'd left me for Terra without a second thought, and now he was back, acting like I owed him closure. But still, I went downstairs.

He met me in the underground garage, holding a big bouquet of flowers. I thought he was apologizing, but it was only the beginning of another nightmare.

"Troy, if you promise me you'll never see Terra again, I'll-"

Before I could finish, he shoved a cloth over my mouth and nose. The sharp, pungent smell knocked me out cold.

When I came to, I was in an abandoned slaughterhouse. Troy stood next to me, holding an ax. My body was tied to a cold, hard stone slab, weak and barely able to make any noise.

"What... what do you want from me?" I gasped.

Troy's expression was a mix of pain and twisted satisfaction, his smile looking more like something from a nightmare. He didn't answer. Instead, he blindfolded himself with a black cloth. Then he raised the ax, hacking at random spots on my body.

"Separation," he whispered. "This is the real separation."

My body was torn apart, and the pain was so intense that I screamed, struggled, but it was all in vain. The last thing I managed to ask was, "Why?"

"Aubrey, don't be afraid. It won't hurt much longer. After this, we'll both be free."

When my body was cut into pieces and shoved into two sacks, Troy collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. I became a soul, floating above the bloodstained stone slab. Even though I was dead, I could still feel the agonizing pain of being ripped apart. I wanted to rush at him, to ask why, but my hands passed right through him.

Troy didn't even spare my broken body. He poured gasoline over it, set it on fire, and buried it. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he said, "Now, I can be with Terra for real."

I kept asking "why" in my mind, but I never got an answer. Why did I have to die? He was the one who wanted to break up, I didn't fight him. So why did I have to die for them to be together?