Author's Note: This is something I wrote for theater, and it's still stuck in my head even if it's been weeks. So I decided to write it up here.


Background story: Maria has been dating her childhood friend Davis for three years, and he proposed to Maria after their other childhood friend, Michael passed away. Maria accepted, but only a few days after agreeing, Davis found an assortment of letters to Michael whom at the time was in Iran and died in battle. This is a monologue of Maria when she is confronted by Davis


She couldn't help it, staring down at the letters, the two letters that had been haunting her the passed week. How could she do it? He was gone, but she could move on right? She had Davis, and he loved her, and she loved him...or she thinks she does. A choked sob left her mouth as she heard her bedroom door open. Davis coming into the door, his eyes narrowed, his face in a fit of rage it seemed. Maria looked down at the letters in her hands. "Hello Davis, I guess you found out right?" She looked away, ashamed of herself, hearing Davis' foot steps rearing closer to her. A sigh passed her lips. "I'll start explaining then....about everything." Maria took in a shuddering breathe, her heart tightening as she thought about Michael.

"What to say about Michael? He was....a good man, a kind, loving, funny, attractive young man. We've been friends since we were four so...I guess we spent every day together. But you know this already. Still, every day with him was...." She trailed off, feeling the tears brim her eyes as she took another shuddering breathe. "I--I--um, I--I can't...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I loved Michael, I loved him more than just a friend. Every day with him....every day with him was wonderful. Every day with him was like heaven....Yet, I never told him. I kept it to myself. I refused to tell him my feelings." Finally looking at Davis, she felt the tears come down her face. "Because I preferred to love him silently, and have the chance of him silently loving me back, then to admit my unrequited feelings. Have things become awkward, then have him leave me behind. But, still! I should have said something." She felt anger bubble in her chest.

"I should have begged and pleaded for him to stay with me! I should have asked him to stay, instead of just saying, 'Your decision, or choice won't affect me in anyway." She hit the side of her head with her hand, in an act of stupidity. "God, i'm so stupid! I can't believe it, now what! All I have left is this letter." Holding up the letter she gritted her teeth, "His last letter, and than a letter from my government, apologizing for my loss." She choked back a sob. "Along with his dead body in a ditch." She sobbed again, as she tried to gain control of her breathing. "So--so, I can't marry you Davis! I can't, not when I am constantly wondering, the 'what ifs'. The simple brush on my shoulder, making me question our relationship. The cute little love letters he wrote, wondering if they were for me." Burying her face in her hands she sat on her bed.

"I can hope that you can understand, how unrequited love can scar and stain your skin. And that I won't be able to marry you, until I realize that unrequited love ends in death." Going into full sobs, Maria felt the sudden loneliness, that Davis had left her also.