The Girl Who Broke My Heart

This is a true story.

It was midsummer's day in Embra, with the afternoon sun beating down out of a cloudless, cerulean blue sky. (Not this year, obviously.) Carrie and I were seated at one of them wooden combined-table-and-chairs efforts so beloved of pub beer gardens. She was drinking an Australian Chardonnay while I had my favourite Bounty In A Glass. I had not long started wearing glasses and kept fiddling with them self-conciously. Take them off, polish them, put them back on. Adjust them. Take them off again. Over and over.

Carrie had decided to pack it in, leave Embra and seek her fame and fortune Dahn Sarf. She wore a long, figure-hugging aquamarine dress for her last day. It went well with her long, wavy ash-blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. I handed her a small, carefully wrapped package. "Since you're determined to go, I thought you could use some Travelling Luggage," I mumbled.

"Oh, how dainty," she exclaimed delightedly. I could tell straight away she'd never heard of Terry Pratchett, but couldn't hold that against her. She prised open the lid. "Oh look, it's bigger on the inside!" Just like that wardrobe with the lamppost in it and the blue box with the flashing light. She popped all her worldly goods inside and fastened the lid, then leaned over, put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me close to kiss me goodbye.

That. Kiss. Lasted. Forever. Her full lips were soft, moist and warm, tasting of cherries; I felt giddy with the scent of perfume in her hair and it felt the most natural thing in the world when her tongue slipped past my lips and into my mouth. You know that bit when your tongues are exploring each other? Yeah, that. I can still feel it now. Not exactly rough; hot and wet but not at all unpleasant. Eventually I paused just long enough to draw breath and whisper, "Carrie, I love you - "

And sat bolt upright in bed. Carrie was gone. Somehow, it was two weeks later and I was thirty miles away in Sunny Dunny. And a million light-years away in my head. I heaved a sigh, dressed quickly and wandered along the cliff path to let the breeze clear my head. Looking out to sea, I could see dark storm clouds gathering. I was mildly surprised that life was carrying on as if the world hadn't just come to an end: a tall ship, not unlike this one, only with crewmen swarming over the rigging like ants, was battling its way toward the harbour and safety, sails whipping wildly in the wind.

I took off my glasses and let the rain wash away my tears.