July, 2013 (13 years ago)…
Sheila stared sightlessly through the window as the bus slowly made its way out of the school garage. She had been excited and expectant earlier this morning when she left home. Now on her way back however, her mood had taken a serious hit. Today was the day she turned sixteen, sixteen! All her life she had looked forward to this particular birthday, and now that it was here everything was falling apart, and all because of Michael.
She loved him, well she thought she did, no she still does. “Ugh!” She swore a little. Why was she so confused? She was sure she still loved him though, even if not at a hundred percent anymore. But deep down, she blamed herself for the fact that she was losing him. Why had she refused to kiss him, why? She should have tried, even if the idea truly nauseated her. Still she should have borne it for just a few seconds. And when he had gotten angry she had stupidly told him off. His anger had hurt yes, but not as much as the pain she had felt when she found him later in the locker room in Mary’s arms. Now she had lost him, and her sweet sixteen was ruined…
The bus stopped, she was home. Sheila nonchalantly got up and headed towards the exit door. Sweet sixteen could not get past quickly enough…
July, 2018 (8 years ago)…
Michael was raging as he drove home. How could she? How could they? He took a deep breath and then forced himself to calm down a bit. Then he wondered again how things had gotten to this state….
“It would be fun”, she had said. “You would be able to talk to her in person and take this guilt off your mind for good, you and me both”. These were the words that had convinced him. Plus he hadn’t seen or heard from Sheila since graduation more than four years back. So he had agreed with Mary, and they had both gone to Sheila’s 21st year birthday party. Now he wished he hadn’t. His inner voice whispered to him that perhaps it was fate. That he should lose Mary on the particular date he left Sheila for her, and for Sheila’s sake too, had a hint of poetic justice to it. But he wasn’t going to dwell much on either of them now. It was nothing more than a childhood mistake coming back to haunt him. “I’m an adult now” he muttered as he cleared his mind and fixed his attention back on the road…
July, 2026 (Present day)…
Mary watched with a happy smile on her face as the kids ran around with Michael. They all looked happy, and she was too. Life had smiled at her in an unexpected manner, and she couldn’t but marvel at how lucky she was. Today marked the fifth year of her marriage, and she remembered every bit of how it all began 8 years back…
It was on that fateful day when she and Michael had gone to Sheila’s birthday party. She had thought then that Michael was her future, and how wrong she had been. Instead, through him she had met the love of her life; Sheila. It was not on the cards that day; no one had seen it coming. Actually, it was only because Sheila was unwilling to listen to Michael’s “excuses” that she had been given audience. Sheila had taken her upstairs after the party and they had had an innocent discussion about their interests in Michael. Following this they had hugged, and that was when she had felt an intense urge to kiss Sheila, and she had against her better judgment followed this urge. What transpired thereafter remains better experienced than described. The only way she had ever been able to explain it had been as “mild ripples of a tropical river been suddenly engulfed by the turbulence of a waterfall”…
There and then she had known; Michael was not for her, no man was, and she had gone straight downstairs to tell him that. He hadn’t taken it happily of course, but she hadn’t expected him to. Years later though, he had gotten over it, and he was now the godfather to she and Sheila’s two adopted kids.
“Mum Mary, where is mum Sheila?” Stacey, elder of the two little girls come running to jar her out of her reverie.
“I’m here sweetheart”, Sheila answered as she walked in with more flowers for the impending decoration. It reminded Mary again of what the day was; Sheila’s 29th birthday and their fifth year anniversary. And as Sheila planted a tender kiss on her left cheek, she thought for the umpteenth time to herself; that sometimes life takes a surprising twist, and the result is not all that bad…
THE END
#SladenSpeaks
This short story was written for Shary's writing prompt contest. See link below
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