𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
SHE WAS ONCE BUBBLY, BRIGHT AND AMBITIOUS. She had dreams, and wants. Her smile would brighten up the room.
Yet, one day they stopped. Her smiles ceased to happen, or if they did, they looked so dead. There wasn't any shine in her eyes when she smiled. It was like a plastic doll, eyes in a daze, distant. It was as if she was always somewhere else. Her head, perhaps? Or maybe a whole different world.
She didn't talk much anymore, either. She gradually became more reserved, distancing herself from others, fumbling for her words. It was as if she was afraid to utter a word. As if doing so would lead to punishment. She always seemed unsure of herself, insecure. Her body radiated the exact opposite of confidence in its aura.
She preferred to be alone, isolating herself in her room. She didn't talk to her friends much anymore. She didn't dream her dreams anymore. She didn't want anything anymore. She didn't participate in her old hobbies anymore.
Nothing mattered, because she felt hopeless.
And the shine in her eyes never returned, the smiles never alive.
"Everyone is so quick to tell you how strong you are and how tough you must be. No one really has a choice to survive greif. It's just not an option, is it? You just have to cry when your alone, sob into your pillow and pray that things will get better. I get that they weren't even a couple of months old...but that doesn't mean I can't miss them, does it?" Mary questioned Polly as they sat together in the drawing room.
It had been a number of days since her emotional spill to Polly and Mary wasn't improving. In fact her isolation from Finn and the rest of the world was making her worse.
"And with Finn I used to think it was stupid, someone being so sad over a breakup. Until it was me lying in the sofa, just asking myself, why am I not good enough...now I understand. I get it."
"My dear, you have too many smiles left in you to be so sad." Polly whispered.
"Now lets go. You've been enclosed in this house for too long, it's time for you to see the light of day once again. We are going on a walk." A graceful smile rested on her prepossessing features.
The cobbled Streets of Small Heath were crowded. Horses galloping. Heals clicking. People chatting. The constant buzz of energy was giving Mary a headache.
"See, your doing great love. Your fine." Polly smiled reassuringly.
As Mary looked to her left, her eyes fell upon a child held in her mothers arms.
Her bright blue-green eyes found Mary's and she laughed, as only a baby can laugh. A sweet sound unblemished by the hurts of life. Her little face glowed from a light within, and it made Mary's heart break.
"Yeah, fine." She spoke, barley a whisper.
"Absolutely fine."