Building Again

They had fallen apart, slowly, like an old fort.
They too had been strong once, but one of them grew weaker as the other bashed and broke the trust.

She coiled, withdrawing from the relationship.
He thought maybe if he revived the passion, they would find their way back to each other.
He failed with each try.
He was just about ready to give up, when he came home on a Thursday afternoon to find his wife sobbing in their bedroom.

He would have thought after 6 years of marriage and seeing her cry, he would be unaffected.
But it was different this time.
She was weeping, silently.
All he could hear were her whimpering.
But what caught his attention was the wedding band on her diary, sitting on the bed.

Never once had she taken it off in 6 years.
He knew it was bad, but he never thought it was this bad.
He lay next to her and held her, tight.
Her tears drenched his shirt.
They felt cold against his skin. That broke his heart.

An hour passed.
A record, she thought.
He had never actually held her that long.
She had long since stopped crying but she didn’t move because of the warmth of his body, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

The sun went down.
The sky turned pink. Then black.
The house was dark.
They lay there, it was nice.
It was new.

“Don’t leave me.” He let out a sigh. “Stay.” He whispered.
“Tell me what to do, I will fix it.”

They spent the rest of the evening whispering to each other, back and forth.
It was beautiful.
They woke up in each other’s arms.
She smiled as she took in his scent.
So much had changed between them but she still loved the small things between them.

He wasn’t supposed to come home early.
She was finally going to walk out the door and walk on, away from him.
But he came home early.
They had communicated for the first time in 4 years.