Thursday, February 2, 2012

Secret Sanctuary



So it's been a while since I've posted, and I do apologize. I've been dealing with some issues, but I am back now. to make up for my absence, I'm going to post a longer story that I wrote a long time ago for a friend that she posted here. I added some more to it, and did some edits since then, to turn in to my Advanced Fiction class. I hope you guys like it, it's one of my favorite pieces that I have done.

Our secret garden, our secret place. A place in the middle of the forest that has long since been forgotten. Our nights together had come to a close. It had been months since an escape to our hidden sanctuary had taken place.

We would not run away again. Our time together had come to an end. We had lost our secrets, our love. Now, our nights were all but forgotten, they were gone.

I stepped out of our flat and started for the woods. It was mid-afternoon, a different time for me to be going there, and I was going alone. We had always gone to watch the sunset and the bright stars, the two of us hiding from the world.

I stopped short just before the clearing. Music was coming from our spot. I ducked under the bushes and snuck a peek. A pair of speakers was sitting on the little table that he had brought the last time we had visited.

I saw her first. I froze. She was seated on the little bench, hands intertwined with his.

He had brought another woman with him. They were speaking in whispers as their hands stayed together, and he knelt in front of her. As they stood to leave, he spoke in a clear voice.

"We can come back as often as we would like, this spot can be ours."

I did not know what to think. He had cast me aside so easily, and now I was sure he had forgotten me. I created this secret hideaway with him, and now he was willing to share our spot with another.

As they left the clearing, they passed by my hiding spot. A small diamond sat upon her finger, I knew what had happened between them in the clearing.

When they were out of sight, I stepped into the clearing. The clean white bed was untouched, still made. The canopy I had hung from an overhead branch had been pulled aside, but that was how I had left it nearly a year and a half ago, when he told me his goodbyes.

The past had been lost, and now I had to live in the present. I loved him. I never stopped loving him. Although I could see that now he loved her.

I was alone.

I sat on the bed and laid back on the pillows. Looking at the sky, I remembered the past. I thought about the very first time we had needed an escape from the world.


We were hand-in-hand, walking. Just walking. I was telling him about my crappy dead-end job as a receptionist and he was complaining about how his boss had fired most of the people in his department, but knew she only kept him on because she liked how he looked in his suit.

We had been together for almost five years at that point. We had been married for two. We walked along a trail in the woods, and came to a halt where the path ended. The trees surrounded us, but we wanted to push even further. We stepped off the trail and into the forest. Another five minutes of walking passed when we came across a clearing. It was small and untouched. We stepped into the clearing and sat down in the long grass.

I leaned against him as he wrapped his arm around me. I had a secret to tell him. I was expecting a child, our first.

Before I could tell him the happy news, he took a long look around and suggested that we make the clearing our hideaway. I followed his gaze and smiled.

“Perhaps, to make it a bit more comfortable, we make a little secret garden. Maybe we could put a small mattress or a bench,” I suggested.

A week later he brought me back to the clearing and I saw that he had placed a queen sized mattress, covered in white linens, and a little bench in the very center of the garden. I looked up at him, eyes wide.

"I love you," he said in a whisper.

"I love you, too," I said. “I have something to tell you.”

“What is it my love?” he said, sitting me down on the bed.

I took his hand and placed it on my abdomen, a smile forming on my lips. "I'm pregnant," I said.

A smile broke out on his face. He pulled me into his arms and we had a few moments of complete bliss. This was my first good memory at our secret garden. The first moment of many that were to take place over the course of a year.

A few months after I told him our happy news, I ended up losing the child. We still went to our place, to remember the good times, to be able to escape the reality of loss and hard work. Not long after, however, things started going sour in our relationship. He would work late nights, he would be out with his friends more often, and he slowly stopped telling me that he loved me. I would not leave our flat, having quit my job out of the stress and pain of losing the one thing that could have kept the two of us together.

A few months after the three year anniversary of our marriage, he told me he wanted a divorce. I was shocked, of course, but I understood. We were not the same people anymore. We had grown apart. We loved each other, but it had been a long time since we had been in love with each other.

Soon after, we parted ways. I was able to keep the flat while he got much of the furniture inside. I saw him a few times after, surrounded by his friends and the new girl he was dating. We would say our quick hellos, but nothing more before he walked away.

Soon after, it would only be a nod, and before I knew it, I avoided his gaze altogether.

I thought about visiting our spot, our sanctuary, just once more before I let go. I had to give myself some closure from the fairy tale I had once been a part of. When I finally decided to visit, all my emotions came crashing down. There was no closure like I had thought there would be. Instead, I longed to go back, hopeful that I would see him again.


Now, it was not our spot. It was his spot. It was her spot. He could bring her back as often as he wanted, they could be happy together.

It was not my place anymore. I stood up and walked toward the trees. I did not look back. I could not look back. I walked away from the past, and into the future, never to return to that place again.





2 comments:

  1. still as beautiful as ever. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I REMEMBER THIS STORY!! And I luffs it.

    Also.

    Happy birthday <3

    ReplyDelete