what happened in a small town

prologue

Three years ago.

Love is the worst excuse.
Never make love your excuse for anything; this is a bad sign.

The room was fallen in an orange sunset light, pleasant breezes through the vast room window moving sugary curtains, the room had a Sofa and two armchairs upholstered in the color of the sand, and everything inside the room was tranquil even their breaths were faint.
He entered the room after asking their friend's permission so that they could talk alone, away from the noise of the intimate friends' party on the occasion of two of their friends moving in together, which was what happened amid their group and the people of the small town that clings to the image of an American utopia from the fifties, but they made the decision and threw a small party that includes their group And everything was fine, everyone chattering and laughing, some dancing and some playing board games, until a fleeting conversation fell over her head, news that was not like that to his friends but part of ordinary conversation, something he deliberately did not say to her, that she did not know to remain in the circle of blindness.

“You promised me."
She mumbled with her head dangling between her hands over her thighs, seeing the soft sugary rug without seeing it. She could not define her feelings when she knew it. She should get angry, scream, cry, or just walk away!
He exhaled a misery he could not hide, tightened his arms crossed in front of his chest, leaned on the edge of an upholstered chair, not looking at her, his eyes following the sun falling on the far horizon outside the window, he whispered and his eyelashes touched. "I know and we will."
"When?" She said sarcastically without a smile.
"We'll just have to put it off for a few months because something..." he answered with Dispersed honesty.
"Because something has happened." She interrupted him, and the sarcastic laugh in her tone did not reach her lips. She completed his sentence while raising her head, looking at him, her feelings all clashing. "There's always something going on," she got up from her seat, and took three steps toward him, the sunset illuminates half its face. "We set the time and you promise me and then something happens."

He exhaled and gloom settled over his shoulders. He did not like to see her sad and miserable, especially if he was the cause of this unhappiness and despair in her voice. He abandoned his seat and turned his body towards her, touching her shoulders sincerely. "I'm sorry, but it just happened and I can't go now."
His friend told him that he had known of the agreement he made with his father to build a new factory on the land he owned and that the factory would be divided equally, and to finish it, he would need to stay for months in the city. The city they agreed to leave in the next month!
He didn't tell her because he wanted her to stay like this, waiting for something to happen that wouldn't happen.
"I know you want to go and we've been dreaming about this since high school and we're going to do it," he said gently.
"We will never leave here."

She shouted at him and then moved away from his hand, she was angry and sad and this combination is very dangerous, they had this conversation repeatedly and she cannot repeat it more, she told him with tears forming in her eyeballs. "We're not leaving because your mother would never let us and there will always be a thing and another and more until we become a copy of all the people here, living the life we hate without experiencing any other life."
“Calm down please, we are not alone.”
He tried to calm her down, he tried to touch her fingertips but she jumped in front of him screaming. "No! Since you told her it's postponed again and again, and you always have something to keep you here. "
"I know but this time we're going to leave together, just give me another four months." He put his palms together, begging her to believe him, to calm down, to not be so sad in front of him.
"I gave you nine months before and every time something happens and you want more," she shakes her head and felt the hot tears run down her cheeks burning her with truth. She shook her head and the truth is revealed between them. She will not let you discover yourself away from here. If you finish the factory, there will be your father's business that you run. If not this will be your family's troubles and the inheritance they quarrel over, and if all this ends it will be that she is sick and need you, or that she cannot Get away from you or she'll do something that makes you come back a day after we go like she did when we've been out together since high school."
"She would never let you go and you wouldn't go without making sure she was okay with that." She approached him, cutting the distance she had moved away from him, facing his green eyes, which always felt love when she looked at them, but today this was not enough, she cried low, shaking her head understandingly. "And I understand, she is your mother, and you are her only child, and she will never let you go, because the only happiness that is understandable to her is to keep you by her side."
“Marla…” He whispered her name and the helplessness shared him with sadness.
She shook her head, crying more as her words rang out. "And I just want to go from this city, find different opportunities, and try another life. This is what we dreamed of in school and university. We will go to a big city to discover ourselves and find greater opportunities. Just you and me for a year or two and then we decide what we want to do," she cries like a child who didn’t get a toy on Christmas Eve. "This is what we dreamed of, what we've wanted since we were kids, but you give up the dream because I want it more."
He hugged her, and she clung to his hug, she began to cry violently, he tried to calm her down and told her that he wanted this dream more than her, but he is tied to this place, he could not turn around and leave even though it was the thing he wanted most with her. He mutters a promise that has become worthless. "We'll go, I promise, but I need some time."
"I don't want to repeat the talk and promises; I'm sick and tired of clinging to them." She slipped out of his arms and moved away with quick steps, he tried to pull her again but she moved further away. "No, Harry, please..." She went to the door, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her dress "I think I want to walk home alone today."

Before he tried to stop her, she had gone out, no one of her friends did ask her anything because the sound of weeping and loud talk provided all the explanations, also they couldn't look at Harry who left three minutes later, apologizing for what they had caused to disturb the peace of the gathering.
His relationship was the envy of everyone at school, university, and the entire small town. It was a love story like you see in romance movies or read in a book. It's the thing you wish but didn't believe that it existed in real life. They've been together since they were kids, inseparable from one another, Harry always protecting her and turning away any male who tries to get close. They were best friends and then lovers, and nothing seemed can separate them. Among their friends, they were the golden couple.

They couldn't believe they could watch a fight between them because these two can't fight and stay away from each other, they never fight, They differ but they stay together, They did not believe that this relationship could contain this sadness because of love, and two weeks after this day they couldn't believe that this relationship was over.