ssa

ced through me. "You're always playi

iar knot tightened, a physical mani

my pain; he invalidat

d again. A banki

it. A l

transferred $50,0

ance knew no bounds. Was t

m Ethan. His tone was clip

eft it at the house. Can you put it in a b

se. He wanted me to packag

iliatio

sleek, black coffee table. We had picked it out toge

slip was draped over o

felt defiled. Every corner, every

had insisted on testing its stability, playfully

ow a source of agony. It was a pai

eathe in this

rystallized within me.

the faint scent of betrayal. Ev

. I worked through the night, a zombie fueled

nkets. Anything tha

ate, discard, keep. The "keep

pink and gold, a strange sense of lightness sett

ked away in a dusty

hoto

ther cover. A chronicle of our eight years.

fter page of smiling faces. Yo

with a dull, pe

ped down the middle, then ca

athryn, and Ethan' s father, Bre

rating, a family united. Ethan had been outward

ght, the mask

own the middle, his eyes blazing

and menacing. "My father, marrying your mother? A low-level pro

an, how can you say tha

a calculated move to get her

t, of being a co-conspirator in my

nable to defend myself. Unable to

tear, I saw not a repair, b

of his contorted face, his ve

album. My h

m

s, tearing through years of memories

e paper was a t

ecessary. A

o the trash, letting it mix with the

as o