Between Two Worlds

Things Fall Apart

Shay's Pov

I was furious.

I was angry that things were truly falling apart.

I mean, how else would they have made me realize that love was just a facade? A budded lie on a bed of roses. I couldn't come to the terms that my parents had finally decided to have a divorce.

Mum called me earlier, over the phone. My father had pushed for the divorce. Even when she had decided to forgive his s*x escapades, his cheatings on her, the long nights wait, the beatings, the restitutions, and the love over again...

These were the same people who would preach to me how much they love each other, how much they wanted me to settle down since I've come of age, how much they think I would make a great mother.

I never believed in love, so why would I want to settle with another human?

I mean, how else would you have expected me to react? Love is just a word that bonds two prisoners together. Until when these prisoners are set free, there was never anything like love.

Love is mythical, a fantasy that was and is never real. A cloud budded in fleeting emotions.

True love doesn't exist. How else would you have wanted me to explain this? An insight into love was a disaster. Love is never real.

My parents met them three years ago while they were in college.

Mum was eighteen while Dad was twenty-three. Mum got pregnant and had to stop school. Emilia, my grandmother who was subjected to such betrayal threw Mum out of her home.

My dad was just an upcoming producer. Things turned around when they had me, and that brought a change in Emilia's attitude towards my dad.

I guess being rich came with its baggages. My dad had been cheating on my mum while I was in elementary school. She would overlook this and try to make it seem that all was okay. But, it went on continuously.

My dad who had been concealing his s****l marital affairs began to flaunt it to my mother. I was bitter, and when I came of age, I confronted him.

Then, the beatings followed. My mum had to leave after the interference of my grandmother. Dad started losing some gigs, this affected him tremendously. He started his way back to my mother again.

Mother never learned. I guess love is just blind, that's why I said it is only a facade. Cause tell me why a woman would return to such a man?

Yet surprisingly, my father was one I loved with all my heart. I wanted to hate my dad, believe me, I wanted to. But he certainly does have a way to bubble and melt my heart.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Dad became a changed man. Even Emilia had to attest to that. My mother returned to my father and peace reigned for a while.

I still, have to leave home though, for peace, for my sanity, for my mental health. This was meant to happen either way.

I arrived in Royale town, drove into my parent's garage, and raced into the house. Mum was down on her heels, wailing. The room which she shared with my dad was tuzzled and messed up. The aquarium table was broken into tiny shards of glass. Water littered the parlor, soiling the Heriz rug. The plasma television's screen was cracked.

I gasped, turning to look at my mother. Her colored silk dress had smudged smears here and there, she looked so disheveled. Her hair was like the home of the birds, strewn out from the tied band. Her eyes were coloured red, almost bulged out from its sockets.

"Mum!" I said, carefully as I walked towards her.

She looked up at me, "Shay!" she cried as I took her into my arms, hugging her close as I continued to gape at the disaster over her head.

"Mum, what happened?" I asked.

"Ryan...your father wants a divorce," her streaked face pulled up.

"Mum, I know that. You told me over the phone. What happened in here?" I asked.

"I...I...," she pushed herself out of my arms, turned swirled her head around, "I had to do this. Ryan....After all I have done for Ryan, he chose to do this to me," her hand thumped her chest as she spoke.

"Mum, pull yourself together. This was meant to happen either way," I said, pulling her up.

"No!" She jerked free from me, "Ryan deserves this a hundredfold, after what we have been through together...,"

"Mum!" I called out, tiredly, "If this is what Dad wants, you just have to accept it. You were doing rather fine the other time before he decided to call you back into his life," I continued.

"Shayyyyy, you...don't understand," her head slouched down to her thighs.

A tear fell from my left eye, I quickly brushed it off and pulled my mother up. "Let's go, mum," I said.

"Where is he? Where is Ryan? I won't leave until I see him!" her head pulled up abruptly.

"Mum," I called out exasperated, "I wouldn't want to see Dad hurt you again. I told him to divorce you," I broke the ice.

She froze, her heavy eyes turning back to stare at me. Then, she laughed a low rumble. "I don't believe you," she tried a smile even in her tears.

"I.....," the loud shrilly sound of my phone interrupted me. It was an unknown number.

Was it Dad? not him? I knew that I hadn't heard from him in a while, neither had he called me. I picked up the call.

"Hello," I said.

My face was bleached white when I got the information. Suddenly, my throat dried up and many perturbing questions raced into my mind.

No! This was not happening! Why were things falling apart?

My mum who had been crying stopped when she saw my creased expression, "Shay, what's wrong? Is that Ryan?" She asked.

But it was too heavy to blurt out the words, they were like heavy rocks formed in the depths of my mouth.