Goodbye

It's never real until it's staring you in the face. You can talk about it all you want, but you'll never really be prepared. I saw it happen today. They were sitting together and talking. I didn't mean to, but I heard their conversation. "Please don't go," he was saying, "You know he'll just be mad when you get back." "I have to. I've already been gone too long." You could tell she didn't want to. It was in her voice. "I can't let you get hurt again. Please, just leave him. He's not going to stop. I can help you." There was desperation in his voice. "I'm sorry," she said standing, "I love you." "Wait! Please! Don't go..." She didn't look back. There were tears in her eyes as she walked away. He sat back down, crying. I don't know what drove me to do it, but I walked over to him and sat down. I found myself crying as well. He looked at me, tears and hopelessness in his eyes. "I've been where you are now," I said, "I know it hurts, but you can't save everyone." As I left, I looked at my shoulder. There was a small scar in the shape of an "E", left by one I had tried to help. I smiled. "You can't save everyone."