It comes in stages

First there’s the denial. The idea that you’re ending is incomprehensible. You had wondered what forever felt like and this was as close to the taste of it as you had ever experienced.

The anger at betrayal is felt deep to the core. The shock and revulsion will fester if it doesn’t boil. You ask why and there is no answer.

Finally some truth. You learn that these things are inevitable. That the idea you had of someone is but a flashlight in a dark room. You only saw one part of them, never the whole picture. Now with the full picture, you see how they’re broken and offer to pick up the pieces. Bargaining the future for the past, trying to piece together the bits that were kind and happy and true.

I’m in the sadness now. All-encompassing like a shroud it weighs heavy on my shoulders like a cold blanket. This new city is like shedding skin. This new person is cocooned, goo-like and transforming before my very eyes.

Time brings it back around. Our minds were not meant to remember forever. We are made for change. Hearts change. Cities change. People change. They end again and again and again. Back to the beginning.