I used my key to get into Blaire’s apartment when she didn’t answer the door. “Blaire Bear? You here, babe?” But I knew she wasn’t from the moment I walked in. There was just an empty, tomblike feeling about the place. I glanced around, wondering where all the boxes were that had been stacked against the walls last night.

With my heart feeling as empty as the front rooms, I headed down the hall to Blaire’s little bedroom. I dragged my gaze around the room, seeing… nothing. Except for one medium-sized brown box that was still half open.

Wish Bear slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor without a sound as I walked numbly over to the single box on the bare mattress. Opening the flaps and peering inside, I felt my knees weaken so badly that I was forced to sink down onto the edge of the bed. The first thing I saw in the box was the light brown fur of Tenderheart Bear. I pulled him out and held him to my face. He smelled like Blaire, like oranges and vanilla and her skin. She had told me once that she slept with him on the nights when I didn’t stay over at her apartment, and her sweet scent clung to his soft fur like a tenacious, alluring vine.

I clutched the bear to my chest, not feeling the least bit silly, and picked through the rest of the box one-handed. The platinum bracelet. Ticket stubs from every single football game she had watched me play. Photos of us with our arms around each other, smiling at each other, looking so fucking happy. My armband from the hospital where I’d had day surgery to repair a broken finger. The jersey with my number on it that I had given to her. The silly unicorn hat I had bought her at the mall. And so much more. All of our memories were in this box.

It felt significant that every single box was gone from the apartment except for this one. Did she want to put it in her car last so she could keep these precious mementos on the front seat next to her? Or was she leaving this box here because they weren’t precious to her anymore?

I pulled out my phone and called her, but a robotic voice telling me that the number was no longer in service stung my ear. I tried again. And again. Same message every time. I lay on the bed holding her bear against my chest. I would just wait until she came back for the box. No way she would leave this behind. And where the hell was she anyway? Maybe she had to run out to get some food or something.