Eric turned to his uncle. But before he could continue, his uncle lifted up his hand, stopping him. "Not all things in this world have happy endings. Sometimes, loosing something is also the part of the growing process." he said in a level and calm voice.
Eric didn't say anything; he didn't want to go against his uncle, but he also didn't want Molly to leave. He wished that there were some way to make her stay. As the wailing from the group continued, he sighed and closed his eyes, turning his face away from them, not wanting to watch the group in their suffering.
After a while, Molly pulled back from Mark and Shirley. Wiping the tears on her face, she pulled out the divorce papers out of her purse, which she had already signed. She set them on her lap and then turned her attention to the diamond ring that adorned her marriage finger. She tugged on it, pulling it off of her finger, leaving her finger naked and bare like her heart. It seemed funny to her that once, the ring that symbolized their marriage and love now brought her extreme sadness. Now she needed to discard her once cherished diamond ring, which she had ever valued since the day that she and Brian made their vows and were proclaimed husband and wife. Once she had pulled the ring off of her finger, she set it aside, along with the divorce papers, on her bedside table, then she looked around the room blearily, her eyes seeming to be in a daze still. She smirked, more to herself than anyone else, and let out a very brief laugh.
'It's so ironic how my life has turned out! Five whole years I spent married to him. Five whole years I've wasted on hating him, resenting him, and now look! Five years ago, we fell in love with each other one snowy evening, and today, the snow is the same snow, and the people, me and Brian, are the same people. The exact same! But only there's no love anymore. It's disappeared as though it never existed in the first place. Now I am no one to him. No one. I'm just like any other ordinary girl to him... maybe I'm revolting to him, disgusting. I'm not any different than the other girls who would crawl all over him, the kind of girl he despised.' Molly closed her eyes. It was all so unbelievable and insane and depressing to her.
Five whole years have passed, spending mostly in misunderstanding and resentment. Looking back at her life, she found that she hadn't really considered his point of view.
A wave of nausea overwhelmed her as the realization of her selfishness set in. How could she ever earn back his love when it was nowhere to be found? How could she have thought to win back his heart? She knew that even if she kept on living, these feelings of sadness, resentment, and depression would not easily leave her heart. How then could she go on? Those feelings would follow her until the day she died and made her live a living hell.
'Maybe this is my fate, ' she thought as she tried to rationalize everything. 'Maybe God is punishing me for hurting the one I've loved the most because of my own foolishness.'
She turned her gaze on the divorce papers and focused on the dotted line where Brian had signed. The handwriting was all too familiar and comforting and even appealing to her. She would do anything to see anything of his words, but she never imaged that it would come as a form of a signature on divorce papers. Molly heaved a sigh as tears started to come out from her eyes and trickle down her cheeks. She was numb and stiff and there was a small smile of self-deprecation on her face, and with tears still flowing out from her swelled eyes, she stared ahead, spacing out in a trance-like state.
"Mommy..." Mark tugged lightly on Molly's sleeve. "It's getting dark outside..."
His voice pulled Molly from her thoughts. She looked at him and then out at the window. The sky was grey with just a speck of light as the sun was nearly set, floating just above the western horizon. Turning back to her son, she took a breath before speaking to him in a quiet and tender voice, "have you packed up your things, Mark?"
Mark nodded and stared up at her with eyes full of worry. Touched by his warmth, sensibility, and concern, she smiled and rubbed the top of his back lovingly. "Okay, let's go," she said.
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