Rhea stood in the hall way. Her eyes scanned around the familier warm honey coloured walls, her gaze rooted to the picture of her and Amit taken on their honeymoon in the Seychelles. There was so much love and happiness in the picture.
Forcing her eyes to move from the picture, Rhea picked up the mail from the door mat and neatly placed it in the letter holder on the piano ready for Amit to find. Knowing how Amit was particular about uniformity, she meticulously straightened the drooping daffodil in the vase. Taking a deep breath, she took one last look around the place that had been her home for the last seven years.
She placed the note and keys next to the mail, picking up her coat and her case she stepped out into the hazy spring sunshine. The sunshine too was deceiving as a chilly breeze engulfed her. Finally the time had come, Rhea had gathered up the courage to sever the ties to the already frayed thread. The last couple of years of their marriage had seen many ups and downs. During the dwindling relationship in the last few months, Rhea had lived in denial, in the glimmer of hope that things will improve, but in time realisation grew that what had once been too good to be true had now been tainted and shrouded with jealousy, fights, and wrong doings, and these were just to name a few. The silent treatment, the humiliation and belittling that she had suffered had left her a nervous wreck. Gone was the sparkle in her once vibrant emerald eyes. Her face looked gaunt and drained. Her vivacious personality that Amit had fallen in love with was now crumpled and crushed like a withered petal that was once from a beautiful rose.
She walked up the drive past the clusters of spring flowers that she had so painstakingly planted. The cab driver jumped out to open the door for her. Mustering false courage Rhea climbed into the cab as she took one last glimpse, capturing the picture and savouring it in her memory forever. A lump formed in her throat, as she tried not to choke on the threatening tears. Holding back the desire to sob she barely heard the cab driver asking her where she wanted to go. “Airport please” she mumbled.
Clutching her passport and Singapore tickets she stared out of the window at the familier landscape, in Rhea’s mind many thoughts popped. Numerous doubts started to articulate. Had she made a grave mistake accepting the job transfer? Is this right?? Many uncertainties started to penetrate her mind , her thoughts were in turmoil .Breaking up with someone you care about is one of the toughest decisions one ever has to go through. Dealing with the pain and heart break is never easy. But the time had come to set free what little love that now remained between her and Amit .The love that needed breathing space to stop it stifling and suffocating, the love that one day may return but for now it needed to be set free.
Rhea thought we need to live the days as they are set out and not live in the past. Broken hearts that are crushed are never healed. They haunt us for a lifetime even if we find someone else. Our past teaches us lessons that make us more aware and more human. Why then doI feel so hurt knowing it can only get better? Now that it’s all over, I have come to know, that in order to heal my pain, the first step is to let go…..
Copyright@ 2009 Nayna Kanabar
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