shorelines and shadows
959 Words
The city had grown too loud.
Too crowded,Too demanding.
So Mary had escaped,Again.
She didn’t tell anyone where she was going-not her father,not Camille,not even the assistant who now texted her hourly.
She had just slipped into a plain jeans and hoodie,Tied her hair up and left..
The ocean called to her.
Now she stood at the edge of a quiet,secluded beach just outside the city, waves lapping gently at the shore as if trying to soothe the storm inside her.
The sky was pained with hues of soft peach and grey,the sun dripping low,its reflection shimmering on the water like fire fading into night.
Mary kicked off her sandals and walked barefoot in the cool,damp sand.”The wind tugged at her hem and whispered in the ears ,as if asking her the question she’d been avoiding for days.:
“Are you ready for this ?
She didn’t answer, she didn’t know how.
The wedding was less than twenty-four hours always.Tomorrow she’d stand beside Clinton max in front of flashing cameras and fakes smile,bound to him by a contract dressed up as vows.”
And still,he hadn’t called not once.
Not to ask how she was feeling.
Not to apologize for missing the rehearsal.
Not even to fake interest.
She wrapped her arms around herself and sat down where the waves barely kissed the shore.The chill soaked through her dress and skin,but she didn’t care.
Was this the rest of her life ?
Traded for dollars,caged in mansion owned.
Her thoughts aspired-about her father’s desperate eyes,Camille quiet worry,Clinton cold smile. The suffocating pressure of perfection,And the unknown man she would start wake up next to soon.
She felt like screaming.
And then-behind her,she heard it.
Not a scream
A sob.
Mary turned slowly.
A few feet away,sitting on a large driftwood log, was a woman alone,her head bowed,shoulders trembling.
She was dressed in a silky teal dress that looked expensive and misplaced here,her heels kicked off beside her,her clutch bag forgotten in the Sand.
Mary hesitated.
Then stood,and walked toward her.
“Hey…are you okey ?”
The woman looked up sharply,her face streaked with tears. Late twenties,maybe thirty,long dark lashes,flushed cheeks and makeup ruined from crying ,for a moment,she looked like she might lie.But then she shook her head.
“No,not really.”
Mary gave a small smile and sat down beside her.Same.”
The woman let out a shaky laugh,God
It’s like the universe dragged us both here for some kind of sad girl beach retreat.
Mary chuckled,”you got dragged too ,”huh ?
The woman nodded.”He proposed last week,lavish ring, sunset dinner on a yacht.Everyone says I’m the luckiest girl alive.”
“But you don’t feel lucky.”
The woman looked at her,startled.”No,I feel…trapped.”
Silence fell between them,broken only by the tide.
“Are you in love with him ?Mary asked gently.
“No,but I wanted to be ,”the womna said.
“I kept telling myself I would grow into it.
That maybe he’d soften,maybe I’d adapt.
But …..I think I’ve just been slowly disappearing.”
Mary swallowed hard,That hit too close.
That woman sighed.”I saw him kissing another woman yesterday.in our apartment. “Like I didn’t matter.”
Mary froze.
“Did you confront him?”She asked.
“I couldn’t,I just left,ran here in a stupid dress,looking like a runways bride before I even say “yes,”she shook her head and laughed bitterly. “God, I sound dramatic.”
“No,”Mary said,voice quiet but sure.
“You sound real.”
The woman looked at her,something softening In her eyes.
“What about you ?”
“I’m getting married tomorrow,”Mary said.”
The woman blinked.”Do you love him?”
Mary hesitated.”I don’t even know him
“Arranged ?”
Mary nodded.”To save my family,it was this or bankruptcy.”
The woman let out a low whistle.”That heavy.”
“Feels like I’ve been holding my breath since they signed the contract,”Mary admitted,And tomorrow….i think I’ll forget how to breathe entirely.”
They sat there,two stranger with a different stories but the same ache.
“You have time,” the woman said,after a while.”Untill you walk down that aisle,you still have a choice.”
Mary wanted to believe that.Needed to.
But the reality was a thousand pounds heavier than words.
“I’m Mary,”she said, extending a hand.
“Cleo,”the woman replied, shaking her gently.”Mary….i hope you don’t loose yourself.”
You too.”
When Mary returned home,it was nearly midnight.
She crept up the stairs barefoot,her shoes still buried in the sand where she left them.”Her dress was wrinkled,her hair windblown,but for the first time in weeks -her heart was oddly still.”
Not calm.
Not confident.
Just still.
Camille was waiting in the hallway,worry written all over her face.but when she saw Mary ,she didn’t scold,she just wrapped her in a hug.”
“I was so scared something happened,”
She whispered.
“I just needed to feel alive.”Mary whispered back.
They held each other there in the dim light,No lectures,no pressure,just warmth.”
When Mary Entered her room, she noticed a new box sitting on her bed.”
White,gold ribbon. Expensive.
Another gift from Clinton.
She didn’t open it.
Instead,she walked to the Mirrow ,unpinned her hair,and looked at herself really looked.
The girl in the glass was still her.
But just barely.
She took a deep breath and whispered to her reflection,” Don’t disappear.”
Then,for the first time in what felt like forever—
She slept
- Writer
