The Wager

Broken.

That was how Marie felt. Shattered from the inside, her heart torn into two. One part begging her to not do this, the other severely reprimanding her, that she would not leave without doing this.

Both parts, however, feeling heavy.

She was at a crossroad. A crossroad she knew, sooner or later, she would have to choose between.

She stood in front of the front steps of his door, hesitating to ring the bell. She couldn’t bring herself to do this. Yet she knew she had to. The leaves under her feet crunched whenever she stepped on them, most of them already crushed to pieces.

It was chilly. Marie could see her breath coming out in white puffs in front of her. She shivered, as the sharp wind flew past her, wrapping her scarf around her tighter. As if it could provide her more warmth from the outside, because her insides were frozen too.

Frozen with a deep resounding guilt.

It was like an intangible knife, buried deep in her heart. She could feel it, but not see it. Marie looked up, seeing the pleasant oak brown door yet again.

She reached up and rang the bell.

Marie swallowed the lump in her throat as the door opened, revealing Scott.

He held a tub of cookie dough ice cream in the crook of his arm. Next thing she knew, it was placed carefully on the kitchen countertop, as a smile curved across his lips at the sight of his girlfriend.

“Marie!” He cried, engulfing her in a huge hug.

“This is a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?” He asked happily, before offering to take her coat. She declined, and Scott’s brows furrowed.

“I’m not here for long.” Her voice shook, and Scott noticed.

That was his first clue that something was wrong.

“Mare? Did something happen?” He questioned worriedly. Marie struggled to withhold her tears. Regret pounded throughout her body, making her feel dizzy.

“I…I have something to t-tell you.”

He took her hand, squeezing it lightly to reassure her not to be nervous. The gesture did nothing to help Marie, it only resulted in her feeling even worse than before, something she hadn’t thought possible.

He knew her so well. Why was he so understanding of her emotions?

Marie would forever hate herself for what she did next.

“Scott.” She breathed.

“Yes?”

“You were a bet to me.”

Although her voice had tremored, her words had not.

Flashbacks of their previous memories floated back to her, one in particular that jolted her very soul.

“Keep me by your side?”

“Always.”

He had promised always. He had kept his promise.

But she had not.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Scott had stilled. He stood motionless, one hand still holding the China plate. His head was down, so Marie couldn’t see what was going through his head, although she could imagine it very well.

All she had was to judge him by the tone of his voice.

“A bet?”

She looked up abruptly.

Her heart nearly stopped beating.

His soft, hazel brown eyes had turned frigidly cold. There was not an ounce of the previous warmth visible in them, as if it had never existed in the first place. His voice, just seconds ago filled with love, was like a current of razor-sharp electricity. Buzzing underneath, the anger he was struggling to withhold.

Marie felt as if she’d been drenched in ice cold water. Her body felt numb, the intense coldness seeping up into her bones, chilling her to her very core. Tears fell from her eyes, but what was the point of them? They would not help her.

No one would help her.

She had already been broken, holding this secret deep in her heart, till she knew she couldn’t hold it anymore.

But now, she had broken him too.