He walked in. Her eyes met his with a deep suspicion that questioned his whereabouts the past hours. This was not the only time she had wondered; however, it was the first time she ever showed her feelings to his late evenings on the outside. Charlotte was a very naive young girl, in her prime of life. She has just turned twenty a week before. She was always kind, no matter what her internal feelings were, and it was never a rare occasion to find her with her boyfriend, Aden.

Aden was Charlotte's protection. When she was with him, she was always complete. Yet it was when she was without him by her side that she was virtually nothing in the world. In her eyes, you could see her confusion. She spoke almost to no one, and her dark brown eyes darted about her surroundings, like an animal being stalked as prey. In her eyes, you could see that with Aden, she was confident. Her love for Aden was written inside of them. Every story, every laugh, every gift, and every embrace was told in her eyes. In her eyes, you could see her entire life.

Yet it was the neglect she received from Aden recently that caught her in a state of panic. Rather then visiting her in her small apartment to waste away the hours of the night together, he would stay out late, and return in the early life of the day, one hour before the sun would rise, with an air around him that made her wonder and worry. It was this night that Charlotte could not hold back a question.

"Aden, what's the matter?"

His eyes glazed over with indifference opposite of that which he had ever shown her. He wasn't angry, but his eyes shone – for the first time – with a glance of hurt pride. She could never read his eyes as he could with her. Everything she thought was hidden inside of him, but now, she could clearly make out everything as it surfaced before her. It was as if she had said something so offending, that he could only react through this state of dumb wonder.

"Nothing," he answered darkly. But his answer only concerned her more.

You should be more confident in yourself, Charlotte.

He had told her this many times before. Confidence in herself was not what she lacked, but the strength to make her words come out exactly how she wanted them was never something she had mastered. She never wanted to hurt anyone, especially with her words. So what better way to keep everyone happy, than to keep quiet? She was much to shy anyway.

But confidence was what Aden wanted. He wanted Charlotte to be able to speak her mind, and not be afraid to. She could hardly tell if it was her mind repeating Aden's words in her head that had made her so brave that night, or if it was only her worrying that made her become so bold...

"Aden, I've been worried about you for the past few weeks...something is wrong. Won't you please tell me what it is?" her voice was timid.

His eyes turned to her slowly. She noticed that Aden was just noticing the new photograph Charlotte had taken and developed hanging in a black painted frame on the wall over the entry way. This particular shot was of a woman walking down the busy streets of the city, carrying bags piled on top of her shoulders and arms, reaching out and walking her bundled-up son across the street. But now his eyes were on her, intently glaring. No longer was he focused on the beauty that his girlfriend was able capture secretly behind her camera, but the beauty that was in her eyes.

"You doubt me, don't you?" he asked suddenly.

Charlotte's eyes widened. Her head tilted to the side, letting a few strands of her dark brown hair fall out from behind her ear and cover her shoulders.

"I...I don't know what you mean, Aden."

He began to walk towards her now, with his eyes darkly connecting to hers. He stopped very close to her, holding his hands out and grasping her arms tightly. His fingers dug into her skin, making her arm feel heated from his energy welling inside.

"You think I don't love you anymore, don't you?" he said almost in a whisper.

"Aden, of course not, I…"

"I would give anything for you; you know that, don't you?"

She slowly nodded her head. His grip had tightened more on her bare arms. She hardly focused on his words anymore – just the pain that was building inside, and his eyes so full of anger. She watched with confusion.

"Hand in hand, we will find a new path to walk…a path that will lead you to see the truth…nothing can keep us apart. Do you hear me?"

She did hear. She wasn't listening carefully, she heard every word clearly. His words were so real – too real – for her to understand exactly what they meant. He had never spoken to her in such a harsh manner. But it was the nature of his words that caught her the most. She slowly nodded her head, letting him know that she had heard him.

"I'll show you just how much you mean to me, Charlotte…"

His grip let off completely. Charlotte let a deep breath of air fill her lungs for the first time since he had returned to her flat. She watched him go to his jacket and reach inside of the pockets, seeming nervous while searching for something inside. His entire body was beginning to shake.

"I'm trying to let you know just how much you mean to me. But you continue to believe that we won't make it together."

His hand seemed to stop on something inside of the pocket. Charlotte could see his hand grip around something now on the inside, and hold it as tightly as he had held her.

"Well, I will let you know just how much you mean to me…"

His hand slipped out of its cover, revealing a long dagger. Charlotte jumped back in her couch and let a small scream come from her mouth. She covered her mouth just in time to muffle in enough, but her action didn't stop Aden from jumping at her, and holding her down with his right hand. His left was held up to his chest, looking into the dagger with a spark inside of his eyes; the first she had ever seen in them.

"Join me in death, my dear…we will never be parted from each other. We will only have each other to rely on. How could we ever be parted?"

His glance went from the dagger to Charlotte's eyes. He gave a sinister smirk as she wiggled beneath his body, desperately trying to free herself from his weight.

"Aden, are you insane?!" she said in a sob.

Aden pushed the dagger up against her throat, cutting her last word off. She held her head higher to avoid the slitting on her flesh, while trying to contain her sobs, afraid that she would aid Aden's cause by letting her neck hit against the blade and cut it open.

"Get up," he said, pulling himself off of her.

Obediently, she did as she was asked. Had her words gotten to him? Was the only thing he needed was to hear her voice again? Or was it that being strict with him was actually working for her? Either way, she eased her tears of hysteria, controlling her breathing slowly. She shook all over. Every limb and muscle was on a spasm inside of her, crying out in protest against letting her relax.

He pulled her body close to him, embracing her tightly around the waist. Her shoulders bounced up and down several times as she caught her breath once more. Each heavy intake of air only brought Aden to be holding her more closely – more tightly – then she was feeling comfortable with. Her last choke of breath brought her to look up into his eyes and subside her tears.

She looked deep in to the dark pools of blue, and watched his entire life story being told to her. She could see his childhood, his teenage years, and his young adult years – the present – clearly before her. She could see his first days of school, his first car, and their own first kiss. But why now? Why was his entire life shining before her through his eyes now?

She took each breath in steadily. In and out, in and out. But as her last intake of air came in, she was unable to let it out without feeling the stabbing pain of the blade resting on her mid-back.

"Aden…" she cried softly, looking at him with the most intense longing she had ever shown.

"Hush…let us be together for the rest of our lives…" he cooed. "Let us live together in death, where no one can stop our passion for one another…"

Charlotte could no longer hold in her breath. Slowly, she let herself exhale, driving the point slightly into her skin. She winced only a little, and soon became accustom to breathing this way. They stood for several minutes, holding each other close. Aden took the time to bring in the smell of her soft hair. He lifted his face from out of her assorted strands and pressed her body even closer to his, while whispering in her ear:

"I love you, Charlotte…"

She could not make any response before she felt the splintering of the dagger's blade cutting through her flesh, pushing past every internal being within her, and out of her upper stomach and into the stomach of the lover in her arms. Her eyes began to blur, and her lashes began to flatter. The room spun around her now. Everything in her own home was entirely unfamiliar to her. The only sense of familiarity was the man now connected to her by a knife. Both bodies pulsed with resistance to the foreign object inside of them, but neither of them made any movements to remove the article.

Aden's weight teetered Charlotte to fall back onto the floor, digging the dagger deeper into her own flesh, as well as Aden's. She couldn't scream. She couldn't do anything but watch the life in Aden's eyes die with his soul. She could only feel him. It was all she was aware of. His blood soaked into her hair – or was it her own? – And his weight pressed against her. She could feel his body pulsing with hers, in unison, as each of them made their final breaths of air.

With one last gasp of breath, Aden whispered into Charlotte's ear as she lay dying with him on top of her, in the exact same state, "This is how much you mean to me…"

That night, two lovers rested together, joining one another in death. The dark blue eyes of the boy were closed, making him rest peacefully for eternity, while the dark brown of the young girls remained open, for the world to see the story of two demolition lovers who now spent their life in death together as one.