The map was clear: this is where he would find it. He just hadn't expected that he'd have to get wet. Reluctantly, he swam out to the giant concrete circle. He looked down into it but couldn't see the bottom. He sighed, took a deep breath, and dove in.

That shiny locket was what he needed, what he wouldn't leave without. It had to be in there. There was no other place it could possibly be. Why had she thrown it into the watery pit? Well, he knew that he was the ultimate reason. She despised him after he said he needed space to breathe, to focus, to continue. His mom had died, after all, from a poisoning that took hold of her feeble body. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her again, it was that he required a temporary separation until he could find himself. He didn't have the energy to focus on someone else; he had to focus just on himself for awhile. But she had taken it the wrong way. She had taken it as an attack even though none of it was meant illy. He hadn't used the right words. He hadn't anticipated her defensive reaction. “I'm trying to help you through this!” she had wailed, holding in salty tears like the way a child does when it doesn't want to embarrass itself by showing pain and weakness. But Amy wasn't as strong as she wished to be, and the tears streamed down her face in separate strands. The thought of separation was too much for her; she couldn't envision a joyous world without his presence. He opened the door part way and she followed his unsaid command by wandering out sullenly yet gracefully, a defenseless doe which lacked any aggression.

That silver locket was the first gift he ever bought her, a material item that didn't mean much by itself but was full of sentimental value when the memory of him offering it to her was attached. It was simple but ornate, with slender spirals marking the back of it, accompanied by the letter 'A'. It immediately reminded him of her when his eyes laid upon it, and although it was ordinary, he bought it without hesitation. As soon as she had unwrapped it from the dainty tissue, her face lit up. It was a perfect piece of him that she would cherish the entire time they were together. She wore it almost everyday that she went out. She would pick the locket up from her chest and smile genuinely at it, feeling a sense of ecstasy that she couldn't even describe. It was a perfect piece of him for her to have.

Once Jack had displayed his thoughts openly about taking a break, she ran madly to this lonely spot in the forest and chucked her piece of him into the dark water. It dragged down to a skinny ledge on the right side of the heavy barrel and landed, sitting idle against the concrete since then. Jack couldn't see into the barrel, only shadowy water made its way into his sight. He was frightened of what might be waiting in the barrel, but he was out of options. Bravely, he forced both hands inside, his fingers meeting the cold, innocent wet like the time Amy and him had visited the lily pond near his house and he had lost his keys below the surface. The feeling was familiar, yet mixed with the loneliness he felt from the dreary forest and from his absence of Amy. His hands circled around through the barrel, touching the sides but not quite reaching the bottom. He pushed deeper in, water now traveling up the armpits of his red plaid flannel shirt. The locket was in there, he knew it. He kept searching with his sense of touch, and finally felt something smoother than the porous concrete. He touched it again to make sure he wasn't imagining a happy ending to this search party. He was right-it was sprawled there on the ledge. He wrapped his cold fingers around it and pulled it out into the damp air, and felt success like he has never felt before. A grin appeared across his face and he rubbed his lips together out of habit. He could now return the locket to Amy and mend the brokenness that he had mistakenly created.

He traipsed along the old cracked sidewalk that connected the forest to the line of homes where Amy's house sat. His black shoes beat the cement rhythmically with each step he took. Closer to a new start, closer to being himself again. He kept up a steady pace as he neared the dark, yellow single-story house. The sun was going down, but lights were on inside.

“I understand Jack. But I couldn't see how you had just lost someone so close to you and then you wanted to abandon someone else. I didn't see that as a solution, or a help to anything...I couldn't fathom the world without you in it and I couldn't figure out why leaving me would be a step forward. I'm sorry for everything, I just want you to stop hurting. Please.” She looked up at me, a blank expression was on her face. I gathered my words and spread them out strategically.“You're right: leaving you didn't lessen the anger or the pain, it lessened me.”