This continues from Days 1-3 and Day 4 of the movie week theme story. I had to miss out on Day 6's prompt but this hasn't affected the story much (as far as a week long unedited story goes!)
Downfall
A knock on wood,
followed a midnight call.
Time froze, we stood,
witnessing their downfall.
Confessions
It had been six years since that encounter in the desert. What prompted that scene to suddenly replay in her mind, Jenna wondered. Then she remembered the letter.
She looked down at the package resting on her lap. The letter that she had been holding in her hand was flapping in the breeze. So this was it. Finally, the truth was out in the open. She wondered whether Sarah would ever had told her had she not known that she was dying. It's amazing how sobering death can be, how it can reveal secrets that a lifetime can often protect. She eyed the necklace lying in the box with a distant eye. It was a look of disdain. Friends forever. She sneered at it and stuffed the letter in the box, pushed it aside, holding on to the edge of the bench firmly for dear life.
"Tom, it's all over," she stated in a matter of fact voice, void of emotion, tired of all that life had to give her by way of disappointments.
Tom reached for the letter but instinctively, Jenna stopped him before he could find out. Their eyes met and he looked at her, questioningly, eyes searching and asking a hundred questions.
She couldn't believe how she had been deceived.
"Why won't you let me read it, Jen?" he asked with hesitation, almost knowing that he wouldn't like what he would read.
"I know enough. For both of us. For the three of us. You, me and our son. This letter was addressed to me," she paused, fumbling for the right words. "I know that you and Sarah were neighbours, growing up together. I know about her parents..." Her voice trailed off.
Despite everything, she didn't want Tom to get hurt.
Sarah had known all about the rift between Tom and Jenna's families. It had taken quite a bit of plotting and planning but she had managed to work her magic by first, befriending Jenna and what seemed like a chance encounter between Tom and Jenna had in fact been part of her ploy all along. Of course, Tom had known about the rift too and that had never stopped him from marrying her. But there was more to it for Sarah. Revenge, Sarah had said in her letter. She wanted revenge from both families for destroying her life. For taking her parents away from her. Jenna had always known that Sarah had lost her parents at a young age but Sarah never did talk about it. And Jenna had always respected her privacy. What Tom hadn't known was that his family had been responsible for Sarah's parents death.
She wasn't about to reveal that to him now, or ever. Some secrets were meant to remain just that. She looked out to the horizon and watched the sun about to bid goodbye. And she thought of the years she had shared with Tom, of the encounter in the desert. Perhaps Sarah's confession was timely. A means for her to rebuild her life, to disassociate herself from a family rift that she had no hand or use for. A chance for their son to grow up learning about love and forgiveness. There might be some good in this tangle after all.
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