Chapter 9 - The Final Breakdown
A few months later,
I heard news from a mutual friend.
The household I had left was in shambles.
Without my salary,
they couldn't afford the lifestyle they were used to.
Martha's blood pressure had spiked,
and she had no one to cook her 'bland,
low-oil' meals.
Jessica had moved out,
unable to handle her mother's constant nagging now that I wasn't there to take the brunt of it.
Robert had become even more withdrawn,
spending all his time at the local park just to avoid the house.
And David?
David had moved into a small,
depressing apartment near his work.
He was eating takeout every night.
The friend told me he had seen Martha at the grocery store.
She looked old.
She looked tired.
She was struggling to carry two bags of groceries to her car.
No one was there to help her.
No one was there to wait on her.
She had spent her whole life building a system of 'rules',
but she forgot that rules only work if someone is willing to follow them.
She had broken the person who cared,
and now she was alone with her pride.
I felt a momentary pang of pity,
but it passed quickly.
They had made their choices.
They had valued tradition over humanity.
They had valued control over love.
I thought about that wedding night.
I thought about the cold rice and the fish tail.
If I had stayed,
I would be that exhausted woman in the restaurant.
I would be a shell of a person.
Instead,
I was sitting in my own apartment,
surrounded by things I loved.
I had a cat named Luna who didn't care about rules.
I had a garden on my balcony.
I had a life that was full of color.
I realized that the 'clearing out' of the house wasn't just about the furniture.
It was about clearing the poison out of my soul.
I was clean.
I was whole.
I looked at the 'Double Happiness' sticker I had kept in a drawer.
I took it out and threw it in the trash.
May you like
I didn't need luck.
I had myself.
