After ✔

Ultimatum

"There was once a girl and a boy..."

"Did they love each other?"

"Yes, honey. Very much." She says, hugging her child close to her chest. "But they couldn't be together."

"Why?"

"Because the girl's parents didn't like the boy. They thought he was incapable of loving, of caring for his family."

The child snuggles close to his mother, wondering why she was telling him such a story.

His father comes into the room. He has a wry smile on his face, like he's tired.

"Did they live happily ever after?" The little child asks his mother, his voice heavy with sleep.

She glances at his father briefly.

"I guess time would tell."

"I don't want you to go!" His grip is hard on her arm as he yanks it back towards himself.

"You can't tell me what to do!" She screams. With her other hand, she pushes him back, hard. With a glance at her wrist, she can tell that his grip would leave a bruise.

"Watch me." He growls. His voice is menacingly deep, and he's angry and frustrated and tired.

"You know what?!" He fumes. "Go back to the fucking people who left you on the street." He turns around, ready to walk out of the room. "But don't you dare come back."

There's a sudden sense of deja vu. Colours swirl around her, reminding her of a similar apartment they stood in once, long ago, fighting in a similar manner.

It had got them nowhere.

And this time, their roles were reversed. She had done all the blaming this time around.

"Nate." She pleads. "They're my parents."

Tears are rolling down her face as she grabs his shirt.

"Don't do this, please."

If she thought about it with a clear head, she didn't blame him. Not really.

"I didn't do anything, Gabriella." He spits her name out. "You were the one who accused me in the first place!"

But her head is not clear and she can't think straight. Neither can he, but none of them are ready to admit that.

"Don't." She says, as he takes a step forward. Her grip tightens as she bunches up the material in her hand.

Neither of them say anything.

Then, he yanks away from her grip and leaves.

She doesn't stop the glittering tears that cascade down her cheeks like a waterfall. Doesn't stop herself when she backs up against the wall and drops down.

Doesn't stop herself from crying as horrible thoughts burst in her head like fireworks.

Were they meant for this? Why couldn't they stop fighting and act rationally? Why couldn't they make better decisions?

A little boy starts crying in his bedroom.

She sits there, breathing hard and wiping at her face furiously.

Her child needed her.

She got up in a rush as the ground swayed beneath her feet.

"Mommy?" Mason calls.

"Right here, love." She answers. She picks him up in her arms and rests her cheek against his.

"Where's daddy?"

Things couldn't go wrong. They just couldn't.

They loved each other.

She loved him.

"He loves you." She says. "He'll come back. He always comes back."

He had given her an ultimatum. She had just chosen not to accept it.