checkmate.

I liked you and probably could have loved you if circumstances had been different, but I realize now that I saw only what I wanted to see, observing and ignoring the rest. Well, "the rest" caught up with me.

We were good, even great. Together. And though you claimed to be head over heels for me, you didn't care for me like I did for you. I was just the perfect tonic for an instant: something to tide you over until you found something else.

Maybe you thought I was indestructible, a beacon you could always look for after wild adventures. But I am not. Once you get beyond stiffarm's length, I am very human, vulnerable like other humans, touchable.

You asked me before, what my secret was, how I appeared to be so levelheaded. The answer is that I don't play games with myself. I don't perform emotional or psychological magic tricks to justify one thing or another. I can give without feeling taken. I feel. I act. I hurt. And I move on, always with a clear conscience.

It is probably for the best. You seemed to want to push me away but I wouldn't let you. Maybe you knew that you would hurt me. Well, you did. Checkmate.