Dearly Departing

shut again. “Where have you been? Why won’t you answer any of my texts?”
He towered over Dawn and outweighed her by a hundred pounds. She tried pushing him back out into the hall anyway. “I don’t answer your texts because I don’t want anything to do with you. We broke up. What part of I don’t want you in my life anymore don’t you understand?”
Tyler shoved past her and entered the apartment. “The place smells like a dump.” He went into the living room and surveyed the mess. “You really should clean up after yourself.”
“Please leave. I have to pick my Dad up from the airport tomorrow, and I need to get some sleep. Just get out and leave me alone.”
“When did you quit your job? I’ve been to the restaurant every day this week and haven’t seen you working.”
“I didn’t quit. They fired me.”
Tyler ran a hand through his unruly black hair. He looked almost as strung out as Dawn. “So I guess asking for a few bucks is out of the question.”
She stared at him incredulously. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
He went to the couch and sat in one corner without moving the clothes beneath. He found the television remote and clicked it on. A wall of blue appeared on the screen and a steady whine came from the speakers. “What happened to the satellite?”
“It got disconnected last week.”
“Didn’t you pay last month’s bill?”
“No, I didn’t pay the stupid bill last month, or the month before. That’s what happens when your stupid boyfriend uses all the rent and utility money on stupid drugs.”
He grinned at her. “So, I am still your boyfriend.”
“Why are you here? Why won’t you just leave me alone?” She wandered back to the kitchen, resuming her search for nothing in particular through the cupboards and fridge.
“You broke up with me,” he called out. “I didn’t have any say in it at all. As far as I’m concerned, we’re still a couple. We’re still together, and I want this relationship to work.”
She went back into the living room. “How stoned are you right now?”
“Pretty stoned. I was hoping maybe we could get some more pot. I’ll buy you some vodka. We’ll work all this shit out and be happy again.”
Dawn’s mouth watered at the idea of vodka. Everything else coming from Tyler was nonsense. “You just asked me for money. Where’s the booze and pot going to come from?”
Tyler reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He showed a shiny piece of plastic with embossed gold numbers on the front. “I got approved for a new credit card. Five-thousand-dollar limit. We can fix all our problems with this bad boy.”
“Another credit card? How can someone like you keep getting approved?”
Tyler shrugged. “They send application letters all the time in the mail. They don’t give a shit who you are. You stretch the truth a bit, and bingo, six weeks later the fun card shows up.”
He’s unemployed more often than I am, Dawn thought. How does that even work? As tempting as his offer was to drink their unhappiness away—and she was plenty unhappy—Dawn knew she had to get him out of her apartment. She was finished with him. She was done with liquor and weed. She was going to get her life back in order without Tyler and his shiny new credit card.
“Get out.”
Tyler threw the remote at her. It smashed against the wall behind her scattering batteries down the hallway towards the bathroom. “Quit acting like such a bitch! I’m trying to help us.”
He had a violent side. Dawn had learned this early in their relationship. Most of his rage was spent at house parties and in bars. Tyler picked fights with other violent idiots, but never struck out at a girl. Sure, he had shoved Dawn around a few times and threatened her with more, but she had always been able to work around that. She could call him an asshole and tell him to grow up. Tyler had always listened. He had never hit her. He had never thrown anything at her.
Until now. The anger was still burning on his face. It was simmering, coming to a boil in his pot-high-bloodshot eyes. Dawn was frightened. “I... I don’t want your help. There is no us. My grandmother’s dying, and I want you to leave me alone.”
“Your Grummy?”
Something snapped inside Dawn. Loneliness. Fear. The need for a drink she knew she couldn’t have. This dipshit sitting in her messy apartment, tempting and scaring her at the same time. “She’s my Grummy! You don’t know her! You’ve never even met her!”
Tyler got up off the couch and started towards her. “Quit yelling at me! I love you!”
Dawn lunged at him. “Get out!”
She felt his fingers wrap around her throat. Her feet left the floor.
He’s choking me. The son of a bitch is choking me.
She could see his face inches from hers. His teeth were clamped shut and spit was running down one corner of his mouth. Tyler was breathing heavily through his nostrils, snorting like a bull. His cheeks had gone deathly pale, but his eyes were burning.
He’s not letting go. He’s not going to let go. He’s going to kill me.
Everything was going grey and fuzzy. Dawn was losing consciousness. She could no longer feel her legs, but she presumed they still worked. Her knee drove up into his testicles, and Dawn was flying through the air. The back of her head exploded in agony and she collapsed to the floor.
When Dawn woke up, she heard someone snoring. Who’s here? Why am I on the floor?
She tried to sit up, but the pressure in her head was too much. She sank back down into the carpet and closed her eyes. Tyler. Tyler is on