| She sat down and looked at the murky grey coloured walls of the house. Her eyes, all misty-blue with smudges of mascara on were seen in the reflection made by the mirror on the table. She stood up, the first time since it happened. She felt giddy, almost drunk, and vowed to herself it would never happen again. She now saw the extent of damage done. Every photo in her room was smashed, even the special ones of her and him. Every ornament, glass, mirror and furniture was smashed to smithereens. She nearly cried again, but let the feeling pass. She wasn�t going to show him any of her feelings anymore. He�d found out. She knew he would one day, but never expected it to take on a toll as it had done. He had gone wild, mad, with red-bloody tears streaming from his bloodshot eyes. He had been furious. So would she, if it had happened to her, she reasoned. But he deserved it. He didn�t treat her right at all, he treated her like a nobody, not the woman he was supposed to love and cherish. She shook the feeling from her mind and started to pick up the pieces around her. After two hours or so she was back to normal, and so was the state of the house, apart from a stain where some wine had been knocked over. He came in at 9.00pm, with dark rings round his eyes so you could tell he�d been crying. He sat in the corner, not moving, not stirring. Until he seemed to have had enough of the engulfing silence that split them apart. � So, it�s true?� he said, hardly missing a beat. ��fraid so.� She said, and sat down on the chair next to his. � What are we going to do?� He said, a slight quiver in his voice. � We�ll work it out somehow, don�t you worry.� she said, and let her hand sit on his. He quickly removed his from hers. � It doesn�t change a thing.� He said, the stony marble-hard voice setting in. So they just sat there, in silence, once more. She put her head on his lap, and this time, he didn�t move. Crying hard, fighting back the tears, Carolynne let the memories resurface once more. How could she have been so stupid? She tossed with the memory in her mind, the one that would not escape her. The look on her sister�s face would haunt her forever, because now, she was in a kind-of timewarp. She regretted what she did, but she still loved David, more than ever now. She wanted to hold him, to talk to him, but they decided to cool things down. It was all so, so unfair. Why had she done it? Her mother came into the room. Face as rock-hard as a statue, she came in, put down a mug of coffee and went back out again. Her Mother didn�t like couple-wreckers. Her marriage had been torn apart by one 12 years ago. Her Mother wouldn�t ever talk to her again. Neither would Bethany. She hoped David would. She needed somebody to turn to, and, if she had to pick between the right thing and the wrong thing, she�d pick David. -------------------------- They sat in limbo, the memories of happy days and terrible days floating around like pieces of air. They breathed them in, let them choke them or absorb them, it wasn�t a choice, but they knew it was happening. He coughed, while she sighed. They were both so different, but somehow, they had managed. Why had it managed? The death of her Mother, the fact her sister had moved away with a lawyer, it all seemed like everything was too good to be true. And it was. He had a temper, while she had an attitude. Mix them together and they were lethal when in the mood. Just like now. She didn�t ever want it to happen ever again, but she knew it would. It was just the way they were. Always had been, always would be. He stroked her hair, tenderly, like the first time they had been lying like this, together, afterwards. It was calm after the storm, not before it. �So, you are, eh?� He said, trying hard to sound interested. � Yeah.� Her voice waved undecided. �Why aren�t you happy?� He said, his voice trembled. � Because it�ll be worse, I know it.� She said, and he realised, it would be. He was about to say � We could change�, when he decided not to. It was too much of a lie. They would never change, never. -------------------------------- Years later and it was all forgotten. In the end he had gone back to Bethany. Now Carolynne was the lonely, pathetic one. She couldn�t understand how it had ended like this. She moved away, too proud to beg forgiveness. She liked herself better now, she had changed since she had met David, but it was times like this, when all the memories came flooding back, that she would just choke up. She�d married, had a kid. A boy, whom her husband named Jack. They were happy, they, not her. She wasn�t stuck in a rut, she loved her husband, and she loved her son. It was just that she always thought what might have happened. It was her dreams that kept her awake, fresh and exciting. She never bored, because she knew that there was so much she could do. She closed her eyes, and thought about her future. She laughed. |
| short story: a thousand words |