Collapse--an excerpt

She stood 10 feet from him in the courtroom. He always said she was the "love of his life" and reminded her often that had they met so many more years ago--she would be his wife now. A 16 year age difference and now 10 feet of space divided them. Split them apart.
His pretentious wife sat in the closed courtroom sobbing dramatically in the background. Eight years. It carried on for eight years............and two children. The wife just found out about the children. Boys. Two sons. Sons she could never give him, no matter how hard she tried. She was getting too old.

As the judge proceeded to eviscerate him, he was markedly gentler on the young woman.. The judge warned them both to stay away from one another and dismissed the restraining order taken out by the blubbering wife who sat in the background in her purple sheath and matching Yves St. Laurent heels. The young woman quietly nodded her head in front of the judge as her heart and brain felt as though they would burst into flames.

After all, it's not every day your life barrel -asses full speed into a massive brick wall.....and explodes.
That is, of course, until the day you get behind the wheel of your car piss drunk and hit a telephone pole instead.

She watches as husband and wife leave the courtroom--together. Descending the steps outside--together.
Watches as they stroll down the street to their parked car--together.
Her lover. Her best friend. That is what he used to call her, the young woman. His best friend.

She felt stupid. She was stupid. Hollowed out. Destroyed. She had destroyed.

It would take her over a decade to claw her way over that massive brick wall.


                                                                                         C.J. Ellis
                                                                                         excerpt and theme of a work in progress.