Absence is not a form of communication, yet most people think it is. Most people think it is easier to disappear, that you're doing it for their sake, but it's often because you're scared of confrontation yourself. When you don't do the hard work of learning how to express yourself or be honest about how you feel, you end up taking the path of least resistance. You fear the outcome-you fear encountering reality, and so you paint one for yourself, where walking away seems like the best decision. All that does is confuse someone who placed their love and trust in you. It makes them feel small and unworthy of an explanation. It makes them spiral into wondering if they ever truly knew you, if they made the right choice letting you in their life, and if any of the feelings you or they felt were real. Absence does more damage than you'd ever think-you say nothing and that makes them question everything. And they do it all alone, because eventually they realize that it's up to them to find the answers-it's up to them to heal and recover from a heartbreak that they didn't deserve in the first place.