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He sat restlessly atop the hardened stool. The beyond-flattened cushion doing no justice to ease the knife-rearing pain throughout his body. He leaned left, then to the right as well as forward and backward, staring intently at the liquid confined to the bottle that filled his fingers. He hoped that it held all the answers to many unanswered questions.

He thought about her and the internal thunderstorm began all over again.

A year of his time, love and affection horribly scarred now by the last turn of her page. He wasn't one hundred percent certain why she took her young life, but he toyed with the idea it had something to do with that one photo he was so certain was hidden safely away out of sight.

He could recall with complete precision, the hallowed look upon her face and how she shook while handing him the colored piece of photo paper. He could remember how his heart and stomach dropped below where his feet lay and how hard it was to swallow, not to mention how difficult it was breathe and even begin to try and form words to explain.

He couldn't then and still now he couldn't explain how or why. It was a situation too painful for words.

He sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his tousled hair. Taking a quick glance at the remaining fluid in the bottle encased in his hand, he lifted it to his lips and it disappeared within seconds. He grimaced profusely as it burned the tip of his tongue and continued to as it made its way down his throat to land in his stomach.

He laid the glass bottle atop the bar counter, slipped a few bills out of his billfold and headed for the door. The chilly winter wind met him as he made his way to his truck. He climbed feebly into the cold cab and immediately went for the interior light and his wallet. A few flips through and he came across what he believed to be the ultimate source of pain, not only his but hers as well.

Her face had long since been carved out, but her figure remained. It didn't matter as much to him as the two smaller faces and figures that flanked either side of the woman. The two precious girls he sired and thought the world of. The two children she never knew of until just before that fateful day where her life came to an abrupt end. The two children he had with someone else...that person being her best friend!

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Credits:

Core Profile layout: boogleloo; tweaked by Mourning
Header Image:
Story: Mourning