Phases

Past

(OK...I have written fics and fan based and otherwise, before but this is the first time I am uploading anything publicly.  I really hope you like it. Don't hesitate to drop me a little constructive critique. Enjoy.)

The screen door swung shut, moving in slow motion as it was caught by the hydraulic slide.

His tail lights pulled out of the driveway, lit for a second, as he paused, then nothing as Edmund never up off of the gas.

Casseopia King, finally exhaled. She didn't know when she started holding it, or even for how long she'd held on, but she was glad to be done.

All done. Done with the fighting. Done with the drama. Done with the lies.

Done with the father of her unborn children. She was awestruck at how a relationship of 6 years, no matter how bad, could actually end in a single defining moment.

Tears, hot and fast streaked down her cheeks. Six years, lost. Two perfect souls, gained.  She stroked her belly and spoke to her babies softly.

"We are so better off without him. Don't worry. We've got each other." As if sensing her distress, the babies within her, moved against her hand, rolling smoothly and just a little painfully beneath her skin.

"Yes, we are fine." She assured them. "What's past is done..."

Giving her belly a final pat, Casse closed the front door on her past, literally and figuratively, and turned into her house to clean up her future.

Her kitchen was a mess. Edmund had ransacked the place looking for her 'rainy-day' money. He'd found it and had let it be his down payment back into bachelorhood.

"Hope it was worth it." She shook her head and righted a chair, placing it back at the dining table. The pots and pans would be easy to clean up. The broken glassware...not so much.

"I hate sweeping." she groaned, placing the last chair in its place while stepping gingerly past a broken mug handle.  As was her habit, her cleaning was fueled off of her anger and frustration, and done while talking to herself the whole time. Within the hour, the kitchen was as good as new.

Casse stood back to survey her work.

"Not too shabby." She said, then sighed and cursed under her breath as she walked through the untouched living room and down the hall to get to her destroyed work room.

The door was still partially open as Edmund had kicked it in. The door-jam was splintered and the lock was twisted. Even from the hallway she could see quilting squares and comic book pages littering the floor and design desk. The long hours of enjoyment spent in her own, personal room flashed in her mind. Her comic books. Her sewing. Her quilting. Her Korean drama dvd collection...

"So glad that is over." she soothed herself with the reminder that this was the last time."Good riddance. On to a new chapter." Pushing the door fully open, she stepped inside, ready to put her room and her life to rights.

Three weeks passed, and like clockwork, her phone rang.

Having expected the call, Casse checked the caller ID, smiled, and declined the call. In the next 10 minutes, Edmund called 4 more times. Each time her phone lit up, as she had the ringer off, and the caller id 'PAST' flashed across the screen. Each time, she declined the call, not even letting it ring out.

"Mrs. Marks..." The nurse called from the doorway leading to the exam rooms. All of the heads in waiting room looked up, seeing who had been called, and silently noting their placement in the line be to done with this appointment. Every prenatal appointment was the same. Wait to be called. Wait to be seen. Wait to leave. Casse stood, gathered her purse and water bottle.