Broken Into Pieces

Why does it take us losing important people and significant things in order for us to appreciate them?

Michelle had loved the way Chase loved her more than anything. The way he looked at her, sexed her, and told her, "I love you," right before kissing her lips. She was in love with the idea of a future with him... that wasn't enough to stop her from breaking his heart over and over again. She was still in love with "Mr. Florida" while Chase attempted to sweep her off her feet.

"Mr. Florida" was a man she had met when she called the TurboTax customer service number. Soon after, he would become her number one obsession... she had a strong, unexplainable, magnetic pull towards him, which was intoxicating. Yet, she was married and living with her husband of 11 years at the time.

To date, she has never felt such a strong love for any man. And I mean ANY man. He would soon become the only man to hurt her to the point of depression.

Michelle had decided to go see Mr. Florida... so excited she packed her best outfits and perfume, and headed to the airport to finally spend time with the love of her—if only for a few days.

When she landed in the Miami airport, he was there waiting on her. As she walked towards him, he stared at her as if she was the only woman in the entire world. They went back to the hotel where she was staying. They talked and ate dinner. Before long, he was breaking every rule he had in place... she thought to herself, "Yes, I've got him exactly where I want him." They wrapped the night up with hot sex and he went home, which left her confused after just being so sure that "she had him."

The next day, he had made plans to show Michelle around the city when he received an unexpected call from a member of an up-and-coming group he managed. He had to cut the date short due to an emergency regarding the group. He dropped Michelle off at her hotel around 3:00 PM.

As time went on, Michelle's mind started playing tricks on her. She started telling herself all kinds of negativity regarding the entire situation. She talked herself into texting him a lie. She told him she had to fly back earlier because her daughter wants her home. But there was no response.

Around 2 AM, she received a phone call from Mr. Florida stating he has zero attraction towards her and that they were never gonna be together. He repeated this until she hung in the phone. She was hurt, embarrassed for flying out there to see a guy who only wanted her body... or so he led her to believe.

The next morning, she headed back home, and for the next three weeks she would beg him to reconsider, but he insisted he would never be in a relationship with her. She was beyond devastated to say the least.

She fell into a deep depression, and the only one there to comfort her was her husband... the father of her two kids. She told him about Mr. Florida and he confessed. He knew she had fallen for another man. See... Michelle had made the mistake of leaving her travel itinerary on her computer screen, and her husband, Antonio, needed to borrow her laptop and found out that not only did she have plans on visiting another man, but also was in love according to the saved notes in her laptop... let's jump ahead...

No matter how much Chase loved Michelle, it could never be enough—not when she is already in love with another man who doesn't even want her (aka Mr. Florida).

She met Chase online through a dating app while Mr. Florida was turning colder and colder by the day, but that didn't stop the strong love she felt towards this man. Funny how karma works.

Michelle met Chase while he was having a brief hospital stay. He was honest in telling her that he was living with a woman, but had ended it with her. Chase was exactly her type. He was tall, light-skinned, had straight teeth, awesome sex, and had just enough freckles on his nose. The only thing she wish she could've changed was his diagnosis... Crohn’s disease.

Two days after chatting online, she decided to go visit him in the hospital. This was on a Thursday. Once she had gotten to the hospital for a visit, they sat and talked, and before long, he had her in the doggystyle position on his hospital bed... IV in his arm and all. She had to admit... this was the best she had ever had. She smiled as she walked to the bathroom inside his room. Once she was done Chase, had said to her, "You are mines now." Her initial thought was to correct him—Michelle was NOBODY'S property, but she was under a sex spell and lacked any type of self respect or worth, so she happily agreed. This would be the start of the best 10 months she had ever experienced in her life... He loved the very skin she was in and she soaked it up whilst flirting online with random men. Chase would soon see for himself that she was, in fact, non-committal.

The symptoms from this disease would cause him to have to frequent the ER for pain management, and it kept him pretty busy in the bathroom, which had started to create a problem after while. Had this been an equally reciprocated love, then his illness wouldn't have ever been an issue.

Over time, his hospital stays would increase. Michelle would be supportive until she was banned from his hospital room because the nurses noticed his health declining whenever she visited him. His blood pressure would become dangerously high, his heart would race, and one time he collapsed from stress during an argument they had while he was recovering from a surgery performed to remove part of his colon... All the while, she was having sex in their bed with a guy she had met through a dating app who wouldn't even pump her gas.

Things started to go downhill fast! Chase wasn't able to secure a job due to the illness he had, which would cause him to have to make emergency, non-planned trips to the hospital during work hours. Soon, they were facing an eviction. Chase had finally secured a job working for a furniture rental company and they had started looking for apartments. One day... Chase decided to drink Vodka. The problem with that is his medicine was very specific as to not drinking alcohol while on the medication. It quickly turned into a nightmare.

He had gotten so drunk that he removed his shirt and sat in the corner crying, saying he would never be the man his grandfather was. There was a major freeway that ran behind our condos... after he stopped talking about his grandfather, he went out the backdoor and walked slowly across the highway... he walked across four lanes. I looked out the backdoor and I saw highway patrol flashing their light, and I could hear them blowing the horn for him to move. Not once did they stop or even call for help. Once he got back inside, he started choking Michelle. She asked him, "Why, I thought you loved me the most out of every female you ever been with?" He told her in a very calm and stoic voice, "You are also the only woman who has hurt me the most." He also told her that he was obsessed with her. She managed to put her nails into his face so he let her neck go.

The next morning, Chase realized his vision was severely blurred due to Michelle's nails and so he proceeded to go to the hospital. After the hospital, he came home to Michelle not believing the story and what happened on the freeway. Possibly he had blocked it out. It was either that or the Vodka blocked it out.

It was time to move. Chase, Michelle, & Michelle's two kids had to move without a place to go, so they headed to Michelle's mother's one-bedroom apartment. Hell. You know, they say the definition of hell is insanity? Doing the same thing repetitively expecting or hoping for a different outcome. Possibly out of fear of change.

Chase stayed one night with Michelle and she kicked him to the curb; and yes, they had moved to Michelle's mother's house, but it was like Michelle couldn't help herself from hurting Chase. He stood at the door after a big argument during the second night at her mother's house with a tear in his left eye slowly falling down the side of his cheek. Without saying a word, he looked her square in the eye, as if he was asking if she was sure this is what she wanted... She then reached around him and unlocked the door. He stood there for a few more seconds in horrible pain, turned around, and walked out... (To be continued)