Morning all. Hope you are having a fabulous week. Mine is going by a little faster than I planned. Too much to do and too little time to get it done. I suppose it is better than time hanging heavy but April always feels like I am hitting the month at a run. For now, we set the timer and start the day with the writing prompt. So timers set for fifteen minutes and off we go.
I think this is an interesting set up. Not sure what story I will but Sarah through, but I like the break up at the start. An ending starting a new beginning.
Wednesday, April 15th: It is a harsh word.
It is a harsh word.
Never.
It seemed some how colder to her than a simple no. It was somehow less arguable. No could, come with conditions. Generally when someone said no there was a follow up a because. Sometimes the because could be worked around. A solution that made the no less permanent.
Never really didn’t come with those sorts of caveats. It was flat hard and the double syllable somehow complete in itself. No one felt compelled to add a because to never. If they added anything it was simply a confirmation of the never. Never will I allow this. Never will this happen.
Sarah heard the never and knew that it was through. She and Ben were done. He could say he loved her as much as he wanted but he would never go against his family. Never risk their censure. Never risk being cut off from their month. Never risk eliminating their connections.
It was a never situation.
It hurt. Of course it did. She loved him. There were always those notions that love might be enough but deep down she knew that if his family liked her enough then their no might bend. Instead it solidified into a never.
She would never be good enough for them. They would never approve of her.
It stung, but it was not unexpected. The part that hurt the worst was that Ben seemed torn. Or claimed he was. He seemed agonized by their break up as though he hadn’t been the one to agree to it. She didn’t end them. Her family didn’t end them.
He did.
Yet he was playing the victim.
As she unpacked her last box in her new place, her phone rang yet again. Ben was calling. She saw his name appear on the screen. She sighed. They ended. He went to stay with hie family while she found a new place to live since his name was on their lease. She found a new place, moved and notified him she was gone.
All in all the process took three weeks.
He didn’t call her while he was staying with his family. But once home he called or texted an average of five times a day. It started out as calls but when she didn’t answer he went to text. He missed her in a few of the texts. He needed her for others. The needs were mostly because he didn’t know where anything was or how it worked. He texted her when he ran out of toothpaste. He texted her because he didn’t know if there was a scheduled laundry pick up.
Sarah laughed at that one. Their apartment had it’s own laundry and she did it each week. He knew that his clothes left the hamper and reappeared in the closet but knew nothing of the process. The calls were getting more panicked as he realized there were more and more things he didn’t know.
She broke down the last of her moving boxes and waited. Generally, after she ignored a call, there would be a text. The call ended. There was a pause. She put the box in the hallway with the other brokendown boxes. As it was her last, she began ferrying the cardboard down to the recycling in the basement. By the time she was done, the text was in.
Ten til Midnight 