Page 25

Story: The Day Love Died

It seemed like I was standing in the midst of a crossroad, where the stories say evil lives. Kellen seemed to be waiting there to give his soul to the devil.
Lena’s bold suggestion that night that she could really be serious about that bloody Damien had already gotten lodged in Kellen’s throat like a painful spike that wouldn’t go away or let him forget about it.
Hitting the gym was just as pointless as yelling at his colleagues who didn’t know what they were doing. Whiskey couldn’t even burn his throat enough to ease the pain in his chest.
And then there was that stupid engagement party that was coming up soon. When he accidentally answered Selene’s call, she wouldn’t stop calling him to ask why he hadn’t answered her calls. This made him want to hit someone in the face. He would have told Selene to f*ck off if it weren’t for his business. But that was clearly not conceivable. One night, when he was intoxicated, he couldn’t remember anything, and that stupid debt to Isaac Arthur was the worst thing that ever happened to him.
Was this going to be the rest of his life?
Oh my God! It already felt like hell.
And Kellen couldn’t help but think of Lena; he never got tired of talking to her. Before Lena’s true face was revealed, things were so different and easy.
Kellen fastened the last button on his dress shirt in front of the mirror on the door of his wardrobe. The celebration night has finally come. He made sure that his face didn’t show any of those dangerous feelings that were making him sick.
He was in the middle of turning around when he accidentally smacked the empty vase with his knuckles while picking up the car keys from the side table. The vase fell to the floor before he could even move. The bits of broken glass were all over his shoe-covered feet…  He suddenly felt uneasy in his stomach, almost like a warning. It seemed like something bad was waiting just around the bend.
******
Lena stepped in front of the mirror and glanced at herself. The royal blue dress that came down to her knees fit her well. She didn’t have any jewelry on, but her hair falling down her shoulders filled that space.
She dressed for tonight in a way that was not at all suggestive, and that was exactly what she wanted.
She groaned and turned away from her mirror. The grin on her lips didn’t help the tiredness in her eyes.
The throwing up, tiredness, and feeling like she couldn’t breathe were making her days worse. It was clear that her health was becoming worse, and the adverse effects of Chemotherapy were showing up faster than she had thought they would. She had to eat bland food because her stomach wasn’t working right, but it looked like she was refusing it, too.
On top of everything else, it was getting more and harder for her to control her bad feelings.
Since Kellen gave her the divorce papers and the invitation to his engagement party, she had been wondering nonstop how it was possible to move on from someone so quickly. She wanted to know that secret for herself because it was evident that she was still stuck where she had damaged herself.
Lena picked up her purse and then paused for a bit before eventually signing the divorce papers.
She realized that it would only be right to present these documents to Kellen on the same night that he took a step toward a future with the lady he had chosen, just like he had given her the papers and the invitation at the same time. She also thought that a divorce would be the nicest gift she could give him.
She left her room and walked by the green paintings on the wall. Damien had put them up a while ago and said that green was excellent for health. Yes, they made her eyes feel better, but she didn’t expect them to work a miracle while the malignant tumor was taking away her chances of living.
Lena left the house thinking about the paintings she had left behind.
But green is a miracle.
It’s a green miracle.
There used to be a lot of green outside her parents’ house. That was a long time ago!
As she became older, green was no longer as important…
It was strange how her thoughts seemed to be repeating themselves, getting mixed up like she was losing control of them very rapidly. She said it was just jitters and brushed any doubts aside.
*****
Selene’s smile didn’t leave her face as she whirled about in her floor-length party dress, which had a deep split at the side that teased her long, creamy leg. The fancy chandelier in her fancy hotel room even looked dimmer than the happiness that was coming off of her.
She was so happy that nothing could stop her. And why would it? She was finally ready to legally claim Kellen as her own, and she was alone.
Only she understood how far she had to go to see this day.
She had even murdered to obtain Kellen. Not only did they lie, but they also plotted.
She loved Kellen that much. She wanted him that badly.
“I can’t wait to meet you, Kellen. The whole freaking world will see tonight,” she said with a laugh. “That you belong to me.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Selene said in a happy voice as a hotel worker came in, said hello, and then departed with a glass of wine she had purchased earlier.
A drink of greatness before she went out to get her boyfriend.
But that taste made her pout a little. It seemed a little strange, like wine, but not quite. Selene took another drink, shrugged, and flung her head back to swallow it all in one go. At that point, her phone rang. It was Isaac Arthur, her wonderful father, who had made things happen so much faster. It turned out to be a great idea to blackmail Kellen a bit.
“Yes, Daddy,” Selene sang as she picked up the phone.
******
Ryan leaned against the wall outside the hotel room and gave some money to the staff, who looked impassive and then ran out without saying a thing.
Ryan’s lips curled up at the corners, making a nasty smile.
This was the start of Selene’s end. That woman was about to have the finest night of her life.
******
Lena came into the big hall of the hotel where the celebration was happening through the big double doors.
Memories hit her like a lightning bolt, and she had to stop for a moment. They were the recollections of the good times, the golden days of love and optimism she had with Kellen.
She remembered a similar, fancy event that had announced her engagement to Kellen. There were happy people, bright lights, decorations, and food all throughout the hall…  Everything had made this feeling of endless delight. It felt like a stinging pin prick inside because I knew that none of that happiness would stay long.
And now she was here as a guest, to really set him free and see him promise the rest of his life to someone else.
She craned her neck to try to find Kellen among the crowd. The idea was simple: find Kellen, congratulate him, remain for a bit, and then go and never come back. Kellen should be smart and tough enough not to show up in front of her again after tonight.
But her quest stopped in the middle when she heard a voice she knew.
“You!”
Lena turned around and saw Celeste Hart there in front of her.
There had been a huge hole in her life since she lost both of her parents at the same time while she was in high school. As soon as Lena married Kellen, Celeste became like a mother to her. Celeste had told Lena to call her mom just as Kellen did, and since then, Celeste had given Lena the love a mother gives a daughter.
Lena’s eyes brightened when she saw the woman again after so long. If you suddenly saw the dear face and felt happy…  If Lena hadn’t been there, she could have taken a step back and thought about how time and circumstances can change things.
“Mom…” came out of her mouth freely and often.
“Don’t call me that,” Celeste quickly said, appearing quite dissatisfied. “You lost the right to call me that the moment you turned against my son.”
Lena’s eyes lost their glint of optimism and beautiful recollections.
“You amaze me to no end,” Celeste said as she shook her head. “You’re showing how low you can go and how shameless you really are by coming here tonight to ruin everything for my son again now that he’s finally moving on!”
“I came here to give him the divorce papers, signed. He asked me to come.” Lena said this through clenched teeth, unwilling to show any vulnerability as others around them started to turn their heads, thinking something interesting was going on.