L ~ Laura – A short story.

The end of the line

Laura knew that she was at the end of the line.

She had hardly removed her coat and sat down when Mavis blurted out  “Laura, you know that awkward moment when someone asks you “What’s wrong?” How do you tell them that they’re the problem?”

A conversation like this was not unexpected. . Laura knew from the voice on the phone that Mavis had a problem. So that was why she agreed to meet her.  Don’t forget that she Laura, was considered the broad shouldered brick always there when no one else was. To the outside world, nothing painful or bad happens to her.

“You can cope, Laura!”

How she hated when someone said that. She supposed that is what they want to believe. But just because she wore a street face with a ready smile, it did not mean that Laura was coping.

Harrison Ford said “You have to have a darkness for the dawn to come”.

Laura knew heart ache just like so many others. Loss, loneliness, and rejection. She paid her dues to all of them. “When you lose a loved one through illness or age, then there is a reason for it and it can take the edge off the pain, but it still does not remove it altogether”. How many times had she said that, over the past twenty years?  Did anyone take heed, she was not sure of the answer, but they kept asking. Each season brought a new batch of wounded hearts, wanting her to heal them.

Rejection is the killer.

The worst possible feeling, thought Laura, was when someone makes you feel special, then suddenly leaves you hanging, and you have to act like you don’t care at all.

“Thankfully, I’m mature enough to forgive, but I’m not dumb enough to trust that person again.” She said silently to herself.

No matter how ‘busy’ a persons day might be. If they ‘really care’ they’ll always find time for you. A true friend does not need a diary or a secretary to remind them to keep in touch.

So with all these thoughts running wildly through her head, Laura ordered coffee and set about calming her friend.

She so wanted to say to Mavis and to the man by whom she herself  had been rejected:

“Don’t be mad when someone else starts to appreciate the person you took for granted. What you won’t do, someone else will.”