"Liv?"
Livvy shook. She was standing up, leaning on a table, with a haunted look in her eyes. A cobalt blue crystal in her hand. At the sight of her husband Quinlin in the doorway, she quickly pushed the crystal under a pile of papers.
"Liv, are you alright? What's wrong?"
When she didn't answer he rushed to her. "Please tell me what's wrong!"
Livvy's mind replayed the horrible memories she had seen in the Forbidden Cities. Sick children with no more hair taped to machines. A little girl with tubes through her nose and mouth, unable to cry out as she dropped her toy. A boy sitting in a chair with wheels on it who couldn't move his legs. He had tears in his eyes as he watched the other kids play in a yard - kicking a ball.
Her body was quivering wildly as she shut her eyes and willed her mind to forget. She pushed the thing she shouldn't have seen into the back of her mind.
"I....there..there was just a really sad ending in the book I was reading."
Quinlin smiled softly before he embraced her, hugging her tightly. She buried her crying eyes into his cape. She felt so lucky to have someone like Quinlin. But she felt she didn't deserve him. He whispered sweet reassurances into her ear, but she heard none of them. This wasn't right. She felt guilty that she was lying to him. About why she was upset. She couldn't admit that she had stolen his crystal and leaped to the Forbidden Cities.
But she pushed the guilt chipping away at her into the back of her mind, with the memories of the sick children and whispered, "I love you."
"I love you too, Liv."
The past is the past, she thought.
But their marriage was never the same after that.
The guilt chipped away at Livvy and it caused her to lash out. Quinlin tried to save their relationship at first but after a while, he gave up. He yelled, she screamed, and they argued uintil they had no energy to fight anymore.
It was the same routine day after day. And slowly, their loving marriage became nothing but a headache; a chore.
Livvy layed her head on the table. She had just gotten back from a long day at work and her husband was arguing with someone on his imparter. Quinlin had never been the cuddly type but that fateful day had changed both of them. He used to be so sweet to Livvy, but now he treated her like a stranger and he was even worse to everyone else.
She rubbed her temple. This wasn't working. It stopped working a long time ago. Why were they still here? There was nobody to keep their marriage together for. No kids, not even themselves. It was just destroying them slowly. It was a slow and painful death.
"19 years of this garbage," Livvy mumbled. 19 years and 19 million tears.
"What?" snapped Quinlin. Livvy's stomach did a double flip. She hadn't realized she had said that out loud.
"Nothing, Quinlin."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
She focused her eyes on the frustrated man pacing the room. His sapphire blue eyes shimmered. She focused as hard as she could. She tried to look into his eyes for the slightest sign of love. She tried so hard to remember why she fell in love with him. She focused so hard she thought she might bust a brain vessel.
It was no use. This love is long gone and it is never coming back.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Quinlin clicked off of the hail. His eyes turned to Livvy. "Why were you home so late?" he asked.
"Sophie Foster almost died again today and me and Elwin had to do some work and stick around to start her recovery."
Quinlin's eyes flashed at the name Elwin.
"Well did you get the groceries, at least?"
Livvy sighed out loud. "No, I didn't. I was tired as hell and the store's too far away."
Quinlin rubbed his face. "Damnit Livvy, for the Council's sake, I ask one thing of you! One thing!"
Livvy stood up, her temper rising. "Oh, don't start with that! Get your own groceries, I'm busy! You don't even give a damn that I'm dead on my feet. All you care about is your stupid, fancy job!"
"Well mind me for being chief mentalist! Sorry I'm one of the best telepaths around! Excuse me for actually being important!"
That did it! Livvy stalked over to him, her rage practically lifting her off her feet. "SHUT UP, QUINLIN!" she yelled. "This is why I can't stand you! You think you're better than everyone, you think I have to run around running the errands cause you're too busy! Well guess what? I'm one of the best physicians around, so screw you!"
Quinlin's ears and face were bright red. He was livid. "NO, YOU SHUT UP, LIVVY! I CAN'T STAND YOU, HOW ABOUT THAT?"
Livvy stepped back as tears slid down her cheeks. At this point, he was straight-up screaming and he was scaring her.
He continued screaming, at the top of his lungs, spit flying out of his mouth, but she didn't hear him. She didn't hear anything. Her mind was at work and she was frozen in front of her husband. Thoughts raced around her mind. Memories darted across her brain. It all came flooding back. Smiles, laughs, winks, giggles, blushing, teasing, and... "I love you too, Liv."
Where had it all gone?
And in the very moment, a single conclusion reached her mind.
"It's time to go."
Quinlin stopped yelling. "What?"
Livvy nodded. "You heard me. I can't do this anymore and neither can you. There's nothing more we can do for this broken marriage. So it's time for it to finally come to an end."
Quinlin's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?" he asked, his voice shaking.
She blinked back tears. "I'm saying I'm finally filing a match fail. Just like you wanted."
Quinlin shook his head violently as Livvy grabbed her keys and leaping crystal off the table.
He rushed to her. "No, no, no, no!" he repeated like a broken record. "That is not what I want. Be serious, Livvy!"
"I am! This whole time, every day is the same pain. The same old, familiar ache, little breaks in the same dang place. It's over!"
She grabbed her purse and hurried to the door. "For goodness sake, just sit down and think things thru! You're being ridiculous!"
But she ignored him and stepped outside of the apartment, letting the rain fall onto her face. She tilted her face upwards and felt the sky's tears soak into her skin.
"Please come back! Don't make a decision you'll regret! Just listen!"
"I'm sorry, Quinlin. I have to do this."
"Please! Liv!'
Livvy stopped walking. "W-what did you just call me?" He hadn't called her that sweet nickname in almost two decades.
"Please, love!" He grabbed her hand and looked deep into her eyes. She desperately searched his eyes for truth. But she found only harsh shadows.
"You can't do this."
She swallowed. All this time, the thing she craved most was love again. She wanted so much to leap into his arms. She burrowed her mind into her thoughts. Maybe, if I hug him..maybe if we kiss again...
She looked into his eyes but still didn't see love - only anger. Maybe I'm not searching hard enough, she thought.
But she knew deep down, in her heart, things with Quinlin could never go back to how they used to be.
This love is long gone, and it is never coming back, she repeated in her head.
She turned on her heel and rushed down the long winding stairs to the ground. Quinlin shouted after her but she closed her eyes and tried to block him out. It hurt so bad to run away from his cries, but she knew she had to do it.
"Please, Liv!"
Sometimes giving up is the strong thing.
"Just come back here!
Sometimes to run is the brave thing.
"I promise, things will go back to how they were before. Liv, just listen to me, dear!
Sometimes walkin' out is the one thing
Livvy felt the rain drip onto her eyelids as she raised her crystal to the tiny bit of light still left in the dark and stormy sky.
That will find you the right thing
Livvy stepped into the building, shaking the rain from her hair.
A women behind a sleek white desk smiled at her. She had curly platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes like a summer sky.
"Hello, welcome to the Atlantis Matchmaking Office! What can we do for you?"
Livvy hesitated then stepped forward. She took a deep breath and in shaky, but also strong voice, she said, "I'm Livvy Sonden, and I'd like to file for a match fail.
The secretary looked shocked for a second, then stood up and motioned down a hall.
And for the first time in about 19 years, Livvy's heart felt just a little bit lighter.
OMG! IM REALLY PROUD OF THIS ONE! And not low-key proud or a kinda proud -- Proud. I've always been interested in their marriage so I decided to write about it. Lemme know what you thought and vote if you enjoyed!