Colorblind

The Sins of the Past

George POV

I enter the apartment with Alma trailing behind me. There is a lamp knocked over and a couch cushion on the floor. The picture on the side table in the living room is on the floor face down. I reach down to pick up the now broken picture frame. It's our wedding picture. I let my finger run over Alma's face. I turn back to her as she takes a step closer.

"Be careful, there is broken glass on the floor." I say.

I place the picture back on the side table and say "I'll go out and buy a new frame."

She doesn't say anything as she trails behind me. I look in the kitchen and nothing seems to be broken. Only the cabinets are left askew and all of the draws are partially open. I walk over to the empty patch of wall where our marriage license once hung.

"Don't worry, I will see if I can get another copy from the courthouse." I say to Alma over her shoulder.

I head out of the kitchen and up the stairs to our bedroom. It's an absolute mess. There are clothes all over the room. The closet is a mess of various shoes and jackets in a mish mosh on the ground.

"I will make sure to clean this up." I say.

I go over to sit on the bed and look down at the ground not wanting to meet Alma's eyes.

"George, are you going to tell me what's going on? You have barely said a word since you've come back to New York." Alma says.

I don't say anything. I just shake my head lightly as the events of the last 24 hours whirl and replay in my head. From my father telling me to never come back and meeting Alma's mother. Then Alma's mother; Mae and my dad clearly had a thing going on back in the day. In fact Mae is the reason my uncle was killed. I mean I don't know the whole story but that's a lot to take in all at once.

"George." Alma says again.

She places her hands in mine and I look up at her.

"Tell me what's wrong? What happened?" Alma asks.

"He knows." George says.

"Who knows?" Alma asked.

"My dad. He knows- he knows everything. And-and. And he doesn't want anything to do with me. He told me to never come back." I say.

Then suddenly the reality of everything hits me all at once. I place my head onto her stomach and the tears that I have been holding back spill from my eyes.

Alma's POV

I lay awake staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Thinking about all of the things that George told me. The way his father disowned him and left him in the middle of nowhere woods. How can someone do that to their son? His only error was loving me. I turn over to look at George who is fast asleep. His face illuminated by the moon streaming in through the window. I watch him for a while and can't help but feel guilty. I knew better. I should have never gotten involved with him in the first place. The amount of things we have given up; but he lost his family. He can't ever go home and see them. I still have mine; I think. My mom was willing to take me back with open arms. In my condition and all.

My mother. I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked to find out that she came and got George. How did she know where he was? How did she know anything about George's dad? Eventually my curiosity gets the better of me and I get out of bed. I head down the stairs, into the kitchen, pick up the phone and call my mother before I can think better of it.

"Hello?" My mother says.

"Ma'." I say into the phone.

"Alma, I have been waiting for you to call." She says.