Let me be perfectly here : nothing ever happened between me and Sara. I don't think there ever even was the ghost of a chance of something happening between us; the closest it got to 'happening' - and by 'closest' I mean 'not really close at all' - was one time when we were at work, and I texted her 'let me kiss you', to which she smiled, and replied 'not now'. I knew that it would neither be then nor later, and that I dared cling to a phantom hope in that moment was all completely on me. So, nothing ever happened between us. But... Sara demanded. And, whether she knew it or not, she demanded a lot. And what she demanded was time, attention, an unspoken and unrewarded devotion towards her. I don't really remember, but when I met Sara she was either still seeing someone - albeit on its very last legs - or she'd just broken up. And Sara regaled me with any number of sad stories of people who left her, and for the life of me, I couldn't understand it - why would anyone ever want to leave this fascinating creature?
And then, people who we worked with, and who knew her far better than I did, started to give me some very serious warnings. That Sara was prone to conjuring up some tall tales, that were all fabrications - well, for the most part. They told me I would do well to take everything she said with a pinch of salt, because it might just be lies, or something she came up with in order to create some sense of empathy and/or pity towards her. But I paid no mind to these warnings. How could I not believe Sara?
Soon enough some of the things I was warned about started happening to me. Sara would call me or text me at 2 or 3 a.m. saying that she was going to kill herself. I called her back to soothe her. Often, I would have to get dressed and go out to top up my phone. When she got her fix of attention, she'd 'disconnect'. The following day it would be as if nothing had happened. And then the cycle would begin anew a few days later. She'd also tell me more of her stories, and as I started to feel doubts about them myself, she'd be... not pleasant towards me. But I couldn't let her go, I was too far gone. Even though she demanded, and gave me not one bit in return, I stuck by her. Until I felt that I was being drained of something I didn't even know I had. I think she met someone around that time, and I took that opportunity to distance myself a bit from her. By summer's end I had a couple of weeks off, and I spent a few days on another city, and of all the people I could have bumped into, of course I bump into her and her guy. That hurt a lot - and I realized that I wasn't just in love with her, I really loved her.
And so I decided I had to leave.
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