STARING INTO THE VOID
Tom and Emily married when they were both just 19.
They couldn’t imagine life apart, always caught up in the wild spell of young love. So, as soon as their parents noticed how inseparable they were, they hurried the wedding alongbetter to make everything proper, after all.
It was a grand affair, the sort neighbours talk about for years. There was a doll at the front of the chauffeur-driven car, an ocean of flowers, fireworks after dark, speeches, toasts, laughter, and the crowd shouting, Kiss the bride! on repeat.
Emilys parents couldnt afford to contribute a penny towards the weddingthey hardly scraped by as it was, just enough for simple meals and the odd bottle of cheap cider. So, Toms mother, Sandra, covered everything. Officially known as Sandra Grace, she preferred everyone just call her Sandra.
Sandra, as one can imagine, tried to warn her Tom about dating a girl whose parents were infamous for their drinking, but he wouldnt hear a word against Emily. He insisted that their love could overcome any shadow of family habit, that nothing in the world could touch what they felt.
Sandra tried one more time to caution her son.
Tom, love, you cant expect apples from an ash tree. Be careful your romance doesnt vanish like a wren into the hedges.
With stars in their eyes, Tom and Emily believed the world was theirs for the taking. They pictured never-ending laughter and happinessnothing, surely, could go wrong.
Life, though, had other ideas.
As a wedding present, Toms parents gave them a flat. A place to call your ownmay it bring you joy! Sandra beamed.
At first, everything was sunshine and still water. Emily gave birth to two daughtersSophie and Lucy. Tom adored his girls, and he was ever so proud of his home and family, certain he was the luckiest of men.
But before five years had passed, Emily started disappearing for hours, sometimes nights. When she returned, Tom couldnt ignore the smell of drink on her breath. He asked Emily to explain, but at first she kept silent, and then snapped that shed never truly loved him. She said theirs was only a teenagers melodrama, nothing more, and now shed met her real soulmate and was leavingall the more thrilling that her new man had a wife and three daughters himself.
Tom was stunned, his heart numb with disappointment and betrayal; his once perfect life evaporated in a breath.
Emily ran off with her new love to some remote village, claiming happiness is possible anywhere if your heart is content, and even a palace will feel cramped next to someone you loathe.
She left their children behind.
Sandra was formidablea real force of natureand wasted no time taking the girls in. She and her husband doted on their granddaughters, determined to give them as normal a childhood as possible.
Meanwhile, Tom, broken by Emilys disappearance, found himself roped into a strange religious group at a friends suggestion. He soon married a widow named Claire, who had two sons of her own. In time, they had a religious ceremony to bless the union, as their community demanded.
But with his new duties, Tom found less and less time for his daughters. Claire always had something else for him to manage:
Tom, darling, they still have a mother. Leave them be. Take Oliver to school and make sure Williams had his tea, wont you?
Tom quietly obeyed, though his heart ached for Emily still, even if he knew that door was firmly closed.
Seven years rolled by. Out of the blue, Emily turned up at Sandras flat, holding a little girl of about four by the hand. Sandra looked her up and down with no small amount of judgment.
Lifes certainly left its mark on you, Emily. Is this your daughter?
Emily nodded. Yes, this is Molly. Is it all right if we stay for a while?
Sandras tone sharpened. Did he throw you out?
I left myself. I couldnt take the beatings anymoremy partner never puts the bottle down, Emily admitted, wringing her hands.
No one dragged you there by force, Sandra replied, eyeing her. Why not go to your parents?
I miss my daughters, Emily said, her voice trembling. Can I at least see them?
Huh, so now you remember youre a mother? Youre a right cuckoo, Emily, Sandra muttered.
But just then, Sophie and Lucy came home. Now teenagers, they recognised their mother instantly, but there was only resentment in their eyesa deep wound from her desertion. Sandra often mourned that her granddaughters had become orphans while both parents still lived.
Still, Sandra let Emily staywith Mollybecause no one deserves the streets.
A month later, Emily vanished without a word, slipping off to return to her sweet tormentor in the village, leaving Molly behind. Now Sandra and her husband cared for three granddaughters. The girls clung to their grandparents, grateful for the affection and stability in a home ruled by kindness.
Time marched on.
Sandra passed away first, then her husband soon after.
Sophie married, but never had children. Lucy embraced solitude, letting her hair turn silver on its own. Molly gave birth at seventeen, and moved to her mothers village with her child.
Youth departed without a goodbye, while old age arrived without so much as a greeting.
Emily lived alone, long abandoned by her partner, whose daughters had taken him to London for care after a crippling illness. They blamed Emily for his decline and shooed her off brusquely:
Keep your nose out of our business!
Villagers regarded Emily as a shameless drunk, their gossip flying through her thin cottage walls. In a small English village, everyone knows more than they should. Her reputation wasnt enviable.
Tom at last left Claire, barely surviving the fallout from the religious group. Now utterly alone, he lived in his mothers old flat, surviving on weak tea and bread, shivering through lonely nights. He kept three cats for company, if only to stave off madness. That was all the love he had left.
Happiness, it seems, had once tried to find its way into Tom and Emilys home. But now, only emptiness remains.
