Shaina King

Shaina King

Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

There had been a beautiful wedding. She had marched down the aisle with her eyes curtained and her smile wide and her body cloaked in white lace. When she looked into his eyes, when she said “I do”, when he reached in to kiss her softly there was nothing more than love swelling in her chest. There were smiles and cheers and congratulations. Her father couldn't stop saying how proud he was.

There had been six months of bliss. Of flowers and candies, of sweet-nothings whispered in her ear, firm arms around her at night. There was sex. There was love making. There had been a lack of arguments, of petty pickings but plenty of “I’ll love you forever”s, of tender words when her eyes first opened in the morning.

There had been five months of pain. Of constant arguing, of nagging, of shoes thrown across the floor, of dishes in the wrong spot, of wet clothes in the bedroom. There were eyes looking at other women, there were long days at work, there were lipstick stains on the collars and shoulders of white work shirts. There were strange text messages, there were nights spent alone and cold, in a king sized bed. Weeks spent with no talking, no “I love you”s, and no “I’m sorry”s.

There had been a month of mourning. Of separation. Officials calling, paperwork dropped off, time spent with “what went wrong”s and “I guess it was bound to happen.” There had been an empty apartment, a phone ringing off the hook, messages sent with best wishes. There had been a phone call, and loud knock at her door. A ride to the hospital, a white room, a beeping monitor and a doctor saying “there’s nothing we can do.”

There had been a colorless funeral, that day.

When everyone had left, when her parents had stopped bothering her about staying with them, when her friends stopped hugging her and patting her on the back, she sat on the ground. She touched the tombstone. She sighed. There wasn't an “I love you”, there wasn't a “I’m sorry” or “what went wrong.” She put her face near the ground, near the fresh shoveled dirt and asked, “what happened to forever?”