A New Life by Cinthia Albers

Prompt 3: A New Life | Word count:1000 Words | Genre:
The Pilot made his announcement. Time to get ready to land. Tray tables up, carry-ons stowed, put your heart away and if you fear landing, hold on tight. The cabin was almost full, just a couple open seats. I sat by the window, smashed in beside a very happy couple, newlyweds I believed, who made a nauseating spectacle of themselves. Maybe any other day in my life, I wouldn’t have cared, but today, this day, I hated it. I no longer believed in love, or even like. I hated the world. Mostly I hated him.
I could remember when he and I had been like that, kissing in public, holding hands, he would touch my leg or I would lean against his shoulder. We were picture perfect. I had loved him so much, believed in him, dreamed about him. And now I was on a cold, crowded airplane, starting my ‘New Life” a life I did not want, did not care to even contemplate. My boxes packed and shipped, my suitcases filled in every corner and every secret pouch. My purse held every personal paper I had ever owned, and right on top was the separation papers. I had bought a one-way ticket “home,” although the city I had just left and the apartment I had cleared out, was my home. Where I was headed, back to the familiar, family, old friends, was strange to me. I could not imagine myself there again, but I had nowhere else to go.

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