The alcohol drew out of the bottle as its owner twisted its neck to face the fading concrete below, a snake-like trail leading to the alcohol-and-induced duo as the man swayed drunkenly through the dirtied alleyway. Silver lined puffs exiting his mouth with each huff he took as the rugged body scrambled through the unwinding path. His far searching eyes glazed over by a thick drunken fog as memories raged through his hazed brain.

                  “I finally understand what you really want!” Sounded in a pained shout as Jiro stamped out of the apartment complex, mind trying to erase what he had just seen. His one and only love, lips locked with another man in ‘their’ shared home. Jiro had lived with the girl for nearly two years, his girlfriend, his best friend, family, and lover. She was everything to him. At least until he walked in on something he should have never witnessed.

                  For the past month she had been distant but he had no idea why, finally he understood, she wanted to be with someone else, probably anyone else. The thought shook every fiber in his being with a burning rage, only to be spike up as a pair of fair hands rested onto his own.

                  “Please, don’t be like like this. I’m sorry, I do love-“ She paused midsentence as cold eyes turned to stop her meaningless words as she attempted to console the man whom she had just broken.

                  “Don’t heartache for me… Don’t pity me…. It’s not like I even hurt.” Replied the cold tone as he looked away from the cruel girl. “Don’t worry, this steel heart will not have wounds” He spoke mockingly to the girl, painfully cold smile tainting his once angelic face. How could he not be nauseous with anger after what he had just experiences, how could his heart NOT be pained?

She looked at him sadly as she attempted to change her words from those of condolence to something in a completely different direction.

                  “Just… Pretend that we never loved before…”

Jiro’s eyes widened at those words but he stayed silent, keeping his fringe in font of his view, so that the cruel girl couldn’t see pain obviously written through his features. Only silence followed her soft outburst until the girl reached out to touch the freezing palms, in her final attempt of assurance to the heartbroken man, but only received their withdrawal as she neared. Her gaze dropped guiltily before she turned and walked off for the final time in this man’s crumbling life.

Reality slowly seeped back in only a shriveling haze as Jiro continued to walk on.

"Just pretend that we never loved before…”

                  That sentence repeated over and over in his mind as it slipped him out of his hazy state, that drunken glare only to be replaced by tears, pain and hate. Hate for the one who took his heart and tore it right out of his chest without a moment’s hesitation. The thought stung both head and chest as he took the guzzling bottle and chucked it into the alley wall, the remaining liquid trickling down and blending with the already faded traces of past abuse to the spot. The heart-wrenched man then continued to stalk out of the dark walk way, eye sockets wet and rusting with the tears that began to trail down his features as the memories replayed in his mind like a bad movie as he unknowingly stumbled into the street, mind everywhere but where he was, he failed to hear the blaring sounding of a car’s horn until it was too late.

                  A sudden light ripped him from his trance as he looked up to see the dark silver racer near him, but instead of an attempt to avoid it, he just stared blankly until his body was sent flying. The seventy-five mile per hour blast chucked the now injured corpse back onto the freeway. As his head shot down onto the cement his eyes shut in a slow reflex for the final time. The crimson stained head seeped to the right as sun-kissed skin turned pale under the flashing red and blues of oncoming ‘rescuers’ as regards tuned out the screeching cries of nearing sirens.

“Just pretend that I never existed…” Came the hoarse whisper as the last breath left the shriveled shell…