Solo Change and a Letter

[Millie]

4th Spring, 516 AV,
Millie's Home,
Before the 5th Bell

It had been cold that morning, unusually so. The woman had woken, shivering as she pulled her sheets closer around herself. Sleep from then on had evaded her, and she stayed up, feeling the cold much more than she would have imagined.

Some time passed, perhaps a bell. She had the whole of the day to do nothing in. That thought depressed her, the same thought she'd had dancing in her head these past, what... couple of days? She tried to block it out, but her loneliness persisted, knocking against her brain like a persistent neighbour...

Millie blinked. The knocking was, in fact, real. On her front door. Starting out of bed and quickly throwing her coat over her nightclothes, the woman strode the short distance to the door, pulling it open and greeting the rather short person that stood there with a low, "Uung..- Morning?"

A few ticks later and the woman was standing behind the door, leaning against it in fact, with a curious letter placed in her hand. Never in her life had she remembered receiving a letter, and even now, she had no idea who it could be from. The address was vague, in fact it was to the house where her parents lived, somehow redirected here.

Her shivering had not stopped, but she no longer felt cold. It was the feeling of apprehension that accompanied the scrap of paper that she held in her hand. Because it really could only be from one person, the only person apart from her family that she knew who didn't live in Syliras anyway.

Tam. The possibility that it could be her sister didn't cross her mind, not that it mattered. She carefully opened the well-travelled envelope, the one she'd paid 1 GM just to receive.

"Millie.

I sent this to your parents house, not knowing whether you still live there. However, once you receive this, I hope you are well. I am writing to let you know that I'd like you to come to my wedding. It is in Kenash, around the 80th day of Spring. Although I may have treated you unfairly during our time together, I hope you will attend and perhaps enjoy a stay with us before returning to Syliras. We would be happy for you to share our joy with us!

Yours, Tam."

The woman stopped reading, with her heart in her stomach, lurching like a boat on the waves she'd never felt. Abruptly, she dropped the letter and fell to her knees, a strange sound coming from her lips as she curled into herself, an agonising pain piercing her all over.

So, she thought, it's over between him and me. He's replaced me. I'm not..-

[Millie]

No, she wouldn't think that, she wouldn't think it, she wouldn't. Her fist gripped the letter, crinkling and crunching it as she felt the physical pain of seperation overcome her. The cruelty of the man left her bereft, as if someone had died. That wasn't the case, but she knew in that moment that she was dead.

For so long, she'd wanted to see him again. There had been times where she'd known he wasn't coming back, and she had felt awful then. But hope was something she had always believed in, always. How could it have left her?

By now, her face was awash in tears. They ran down her face like a salty tide, leaving her face scarred, marred, and ten years older. Her hair lay flat against her head, cascading down over her face, getting stuck in the tears, unattractive and ugly.

For such a long time, she simply kneeled on the floor, bent over by the door, crying and weeping and wailing softly. But, as time marched inexorably onwards, the tears stopped. She read over the letter again, over and over, staring with a numb mind at the scrawl of his hand, wondering what in all of Hai had possessed him to do this. Why had he chosen this path. Why...

All the old wounds, the times when she'd been a wreck after his leaving, were reopened. Except, this time, they were coated with acid, burning into her flesh and body. Or, as if his words were a burning brand, that punched her over and over again, until she was falling without ceasing.

Wedding. Us. Wedding. Joy. Us. Petching wedding. Joy. Us. The words smoked across her skin. Burning her, hurting her, and she couldn't take it, she couldn't deal with his smug, gentle, fake caring love.

The woman gritted her teeth, and snarled, animalistic and bitter, her snal turning into one, brief sob, before curling painfully upwards and sitting with her back against the bed-frame.

What would she do? She half-wanted to ignore it completely, and slip into sweet, sweet denial. But she'd already given him her soul, why should she let him throw it away? Was it so much to ask that she hoped for him to come back to her one day? That he'd realise she loved and cared for him and wanted to keep him safe and go through their life together?

Why was he giving himself instead to some unknown vagik, someone who dared to think she could do any better than her? Why did this girl think she could take Tam from her?

And so her thoughts slipped... slipped from pain and grief- to anger. And ultimately, hate.