Marriage they say is for better or worse, but what happens when life deals you all of the bad cards and none of the good ones.
Mary had been married for about ten years. And throughout these ten years, her life was something one would describe as perfect. A happy home, with wonderful families. At least that was how things were until fate struck, and her husband died on the eleventh year of their marriage.
She was so devastated, her heart was broken, her happiness was lost to the darkness, she didn't want to live anymore, she wanted to die and join her husband, but she managed to stay strong for her only Derek, but even in her strength, she was still weak.
Derek on the other hand was the type of kid that would show little or no reaction to emotional threats. He simply remain calm as he watched the others around him cry themselves away. It wasn't that he was unable to feel emotions, it's just that he doesn't respond to things that trigger emotions the way a normal person would.
When his father died, he didn't do much crying like his mother, but instead, he would lock himself up in his room with his science experiments and board games, which he loved so very much. And whenever he came down from his room, he would always find her crying. He felt weird every time he saw his mother sad, so he would hurry to the kitchen and make her a cup of tea, he was only seven and that's about all he knew how to do. And Mary would always smile every time he brings her a cup of tea.
So, Mary and her seven years old sons lived together. And together they stood strong.
Many years had passed since the death of Mary's husband. Her son, Derek was now a high school kid who had outgrown his awkward phase. But his love for science over the years remained the same.
While Mary seemed to have moved forward, it was still evidently visible that she was not yet over her husband's death.
One evening, Mary came home to an empty house, because Derek wasn't back from school.
She decided to make something to eat for herself and her son, so she went into the kitchen, and began to prepare a dish for herself.
Halfway through the preparation, she started hearing a voice,
"Derek is that you," she asked
But there was no reply, she paused for a minute waiting for the voice again but she didn't hear it. So she continued with the food preparation.
"Mary.." a soft whispering voice called out to her again, but she ignored it this time thinking it was her imagination.
"Mary.." the voice called out again and this time she was sure it was not her imagination.
"Derek, is that you ?", She asked now a little bit scared. "Derek, you better stop playing with me. You know I'm too old for this kind of this kind of joke". She said as she move forward in the direction of the voice.
"Come closer Mary .." the whispering voice continued "we were always meant to be together, the two of us against the world". The lights went out and everything was covered by darkness. But she could very well see the lights shining brightly from the door Infront of her. She began to panic as she wasn't quite sure of what was going on.
So she decided to make for the door. Halfway toward the door, she stopped as she saw something that startled her. Is this a ghost she asked herself.
And the voice began again...
"I've missed you.. Mary, but.. now, I'm here for you. You and me, the both of us, together forever".
At this point she was scared half to death, she screamed for help, but the voice kept on getting louder overshadowing hers, saying, "Join me, Join me, Join me". In a voice that now reminded her of her dead husband, She lost all hope once again and she fell knees to the ground and started to cry as the vague figure moved slowly but steadily towards her. She knew she was afraid, but why was she not running? was she ready to die of an unknown entity? what about her son? All these questions flooded her mind. And in an instant, her fighting instinct kicked in,
"stay away from me ! " she yelled and just about that same moment her son ran in through the door releasing the light that was trapped outside, inside.
Derek ran to his mother and hugged her, but as he ran towards his mother all she could see was a momentary illusion of her husband running towards her until he reach her and hugged her. It was at this moment she realized she had been stuck in the dark for so long, and her son just gave her a reason to fight back against the darkness.
"Mum, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm okay sweetie. Yes... I am " she said, still hugging Derek, as she let tears down from her eyes only that this time she was finally happy.
After years, and years of mourning her husband's death, she was finally ready to accept it and move on for the sake of her child, and his future.
A few weeks later, they moved out of their home into a new one, where they began their new life as a family, and lived happily ever after.
