EPISODE 16: PEACE IN HIS ARMS
889 Words
The world didn't shatter, it did not pause dramatically either. It simply tightened
Damon's chest constricted. Breathing caught in a way that had nothing to do with surprise and everything to do with memory. He couldn't say a word rather his heart continued racing. This is the face he had always believed would always look back at him the same way. He was wrong and maybe right at the same time.
She looked different, stronger and calmer. Like someone who has survived something painful and decided never to bleed in public again and that scares him more than anger would.
Damon grabbed the edge of his shirt, his mind racing ahead with courage…say something, don't say anything, walk away, don't you dare this is an opportunity you've been wanting all along.
Thousands of thoughts collided all in one.
He remembered their last argument. The unfinished sentences and the way silence had replaced love without warning. He remembered how easy it had been to convince himself that leaving was temporary and that time would soften things.
Thalma's fingers tightened around her diary. Her plus thudded loudly in her eyes as recognition hit, sharp and unwelcomed. She had come here to breathe, to write and remember Morocco without pain clinging in every thought.
Fortunately and unfortunately, he is here. Of all places and all days. “Why today ?” Her thoughts grind for an answer.
Her instinct was to stand and for a second she wanted to run. Thalma hated how quickly her body reacted, how her heart betrayed the strength she had walked too hard to build. She hated that she still looked the same way that mattered. That slight of him rearranged her emotions without asking for permission.
“You're not doing this,” she told herself.
She snapped her diary shut and reached for her bag.
Damon saw the shift and decision firmly behind his eyes.
“No” he whispered under his breath before realizing he had taken a step.
“Thalma,” The sound of her name on his lips felt like a line drawn in fire.
She froze then turned sharply, anger flaring fast enough to mask the hurt beneath it. “What do you want?” She asked. Her voice was firm but trembling at the same time.
He stopped a few steps away, hands raised slightly but not in surrender rather a restraint. “I just…”
“Don't” she cut in. “ Don't start something you don't even know how to finish”
Her words landed harder than expected.
“I wasn't planning to see you,” Damon said gently. “I wasn't planning anything,” his voice trembled.
She laughed bitterly. “That's funny, huh, you were never good at planning when it mattered”
The silence between them thickened, heavy with things neither of them wanted to say first.
“You left, I saw you with her looking all happy. You didn't care about me, you never did. You never cared about my feelings, you didn't care if it hurts. I thought you were happy, huh”.
“You shut me out, you didn't want to hear me,” he replied. Calm but strained. “You stopped talking to me , Thalma”.
“That was because you stopped choosing me!”
The words reached opened something fragile inside of her. She turned away, blinking fast as emotion threatened to spill over.
Damon took a closer step. “Look Thalma…”
She swung back towards him. “What do you want from me ?” Her voice brave now
“Do you want forgiveness? Closure? Or just want to remind me how easily you walked away?
Tears streamed down despite her effort to stop them…
Daman clanched his jaw fighting the urge to pull him to fix something he wasn't even sure could be fixed. “I didn't want to hurt you,” he said slowly. “I never did”
“But you did,” she whispered. “And you do not get to decide when to stop hurting and I am tired, I am tired of carrying this all alone.”
Something, inside of Demon broke. Without another word, he reached out and pulled her into him.
She stiffened at first, shock flashing through her body. Slowly, almost reluctantly her resistance melted. His arms wrapped around her fully, severely like he has been holding her there all along in his mind.
The hug wasn't desperate. It was not rushed, rather, it was grounding.
Thalma exhaled shakily, her hands clutching the back of his jacket as if letting go would send her back into the chaos she had been barely managing. The moment she allowed herself to lean into him, something heavy slipped off her shoulders.
Damon closed his eyes. Her heartbeat was fast beneath his palm. Real, alive and still.
He rested his chin lightly against her hair, breathing her in and letting the silence speak of them.
Minutes passed and neither of them moved. The world felt quieter in his arms, like the noise in her head had finally been turned down. For the first time in a long time, Thalma was not replaying arguments or imagining the ending. She was simply there, safe, warm and held.
“This feels…familiar,” she murmured
- Writer
