Literature: Retribution of Tears

Retribution of Tears

First Published: 25 MAY 2011 / Last Edited: 12 DEC 2019

Her soulful violet eyes blurred with tears as she stood on the edge of the seawall and gazed outwards at the turbulent waves below. Cupped in her two small hands were the broken jagged shards of a crystal ball. In the next second, with her mind already set, she knew that everything would change. She imagined herself plunging into the dark turquoise sea below her, forever erasing all traces of the broken shards of her and her memories. Yet, even in what she thought would be most likely the last moments of her life, she secretly longed for someone to save her.

As swift as a silent arrow, a memory flashed by in her mind of her inhumanity a moment ago. She hesitantly shifted her gaze from the waves to the shards in her hand one last time. Scarcely several dozen heartbeats ago, these shards piercing into her soft flesh didn’t exist. Her former lover was alive and well. He looked too well, she had thought. At this very spot, she had accused him of betraying her trust.

He had mocked her and said that she deserved it for believing him. He said that he has slept with other women all during the relationship. His barbed words jabbed relentlessly into her fragile heart and he did not appear to care. She realized that he had thought she was the type of girl who lacked a sense of self-worth who could be easily deceived into falling “in love” with a charming guy. In truth, she feared being in love with anyone since she feared what would happen.

She had fallen into his trap of lies so easily and revealed to him everything about her. She thought that opening her heart would lead to a buildup of further trust but it had the opposite effect. Before she opened up, anyone could see that between the two of them, she had more potential – writing incessantly and publishing her works in well-known journals. On his side, since he quit school, he has worked at a coffee shop as a barista for the last year and didn’t have the faintest inkling of where he was going in life. He seemed fine with his situation and she wasn’t going to push him to change.

After she revealed her secret to him though, he started to distance himself from her. He didn’t reveal his heart and she could only guess that perhaps he thought she was delusional and insane. She had told him to never make her cry since looking at her eyes when she was crying could transform him into glass. He had laughed at it and became quiet when she kept insisting that it was true. She thought that meant he believed her but now she knew that wasn’t the case.

His schedule suddenly seemed busier. They saw each other infrequently and he cancelled on several dates. The final straw was seeing him kiss a girl in front of his apartment. This was the unlucky encounter from trying to surprise him with a visit. The two didn’t noticed her and she had hurriedly departed before they saw her. Later, she called him to ask him who that girl was.

That was a week ago though it felt like a lifetime. They had agreed to meet at this spot today. A year ago this was the place of their first date. She came thinking that he wanted to meet her here to apologize and ask for her forgiveness. Instead, he came to mock her openly. She had tried to not cry but the tears still pooled out. Once they did, she couldn’t stop herself and could only watch helplessly as his body turned into glass. Her retribution of tears was swift and deadly. He could barely shout before he was completely gone. The shore wind was strong and blew his glass form over the seawall where it shattered against the rocks below. The only remnant was his eyes that flew like tiny pearls from his head to land miraculously in her open hands.

She steadied herself for an end to this life. He was a cheater but she was a killer. Now seemed like the perfect poetic end. She took out a mirror and gazed at her reflection held within, the last visages in her vision herself at her worst. There was barely a moment of regret before she toppled over, the second glass statue to fall into the waves that day.