"What's wrong with you?" He asks, the cruel look on his face morphing into a shark's mask. Even the teeth are the same, and I know I've been bitten on more than one occasion.
    "More things than I can name." His harsh, grating voice that was once so smooth and liquid draws me back to reality. Back from the twisted, distorted expanse of my thoughts.
    That's what he tells me. That's what he always tells me.
    "Oh?" I ask, trying to sound dismissive though I'm really breaking inside. I really need one right now. Do I have the time? No. No, of course I don't. He won't allow it, anyway. He says I need to stop; he says I need to change. Can he not see that I'm trying?
    Again, I hear the sharp words in my head. 'What's wrong with you? More things than I can name.' They hurt me more than he knows. As I look up into his dark brown eyes, they almost turn black. Black, like sharks' eyes.
    That's what he is: a shark. A cruel, evil predator that's only out for blood. My blood, to be exact.
    "Kristina," he says now. "Kristina, look at me."
    I force my eyes upward, even further into his black, glassy orbs. "Hello, Gabriel," I spit acerbically.
He barely reacts. "Gabe," is the only thing he says. "Kristi, that's what you always call me."
He actually sounds shocked. Have I done it? Have I, Kristina Herrera, just become the first person to make Gabriel Moreno show an emotion? Quite possibly, yes.
That's what I'm thinking. Instead, what I say is "You've never accepted me for who I am. Why should I do the same for you?"
He rebounds violently, stepping away from me and dropping my hand. "I thought you were different when we met, Kristina. You told me you would stop; you told me you would change. I'm . . . I'm done."
"Good!" I shoot back, a fiery anger sparking in my veins, making my blood boil. "I should have been done with you six months ago!"
Gabe turns away, and his shoulders start shaking. I hear something liquid hit the floor. Once, twice, three times. Is he . . . crying? I've never seen Gabriel Moreno cry, not even the time he shattered his arm protecting me from the spiteful wrath of Christian Rojas. It just doesn't happen. But now it's happening, and I have no idea what I'm doing.
He finally turns around, and the shark mask has dissolved. All I'm faced with is the Gabe that I know. I see the red rims on his eyes; I can see the shining diamond trails falling down his cheeks. He is crying, and it's my fault. What have I done to hurt him this time?
    "You know, I thought I could be the one to finally help you. In my mind, I could give you what you never had. A home, Kristina. A family. I know it's what you want. That's what you told me."
    I look him straight in the eyes and put as much force as I can behind my words. "Gabriel, I don't want a family if it's with you."
    His expression turns from dejected to utterly crushed as the muscles in his face finally relax.
    And that was when I knew. I had passed the point of no return. I had crossed the invisible, uncrossable line. The line that no one crosses unless they've got some sort of death wish for their relationship. But everyone knows that I've crossed a lot of lines in my life.
    "Goodbye, Kristina."
"What?"
"You heard me. Now, please. Leave me in peace."
I somehow manage to nod numbly and step out through the door. "Bye, Gabe. Nice knowing you."
I walk the crossway alone for the first time in six months, alone with my thoughts. He left me. He left me, and now I'm alone.
What's wrong with me? Too many things to name. And one of those things was dating Gabriel Moreno.