The Abandoned Bride

na's

oken by a love that now had no place to b

looked like rivers on its surface. They seemed to tease me wi

bled out, raw and ragged, but the

e man who had once filled these

se I knocked over in my tremulous state, the

itors, cascaded down

undation, laying bare the grief th

despair: long, wavy brown hair clinging to a face

we once shared, each opulent

Arthur's fingers would dance to create music

eir frames, immortalized moment

with sobs that clawed their wa

to crush me. I sank to the floor, my knees unable to bear the burden any longer, the

against the walls that seemed to close in around me. Each jagged breath was

tiness engulfed me, a chasm opening beneath my feet, threatening to swallow me whole. And yet,

love had been the casualty. With nothing but the ghost of his touch lingering on my

er, knowing that when dawn broke, it wo

, under the cloak of night, I allowed myself to grieve for the woman who believed love was forever

of our marble floor, the once comforting

to the wide windows, where the first timid rays of

dimmed by the storm that had raged through her life. Yet, there was something else, a flicker of determination that hadn't

lt like a gentle nudge, urging me towards the future without Arthur, without the illusion of our perfect

s moved of their own accord, pulling drawers open, and sweep

ls, photographs that captured smiles as brittle as

x a step further away from heartbreak. I wrapped my fingers around the locket

be unbreakable. With a final, resolu

xpiration date,

yself with each syllable. My gaze swept over the barre

rtal between what w

f new horizons. The city that had cradled my love story now seemed

ce where Selena Hall could rebuild, rediscove

walked toward the cab waiting at the curb, m

d, glancing back only once at

a warm glow over everything it touched, including me. A new day, a