AGAIN?

The morning came like a cold step. Not the gentle kind with sunrise and bed song but the kind that pressed silence into the walls. Verma laid in bed ,her phone turned face down on the floor where she had thrown it the night before. It had buzzed endlessly. Daniel had called her, sent voicemails and a lot of texts after texts. She didn't touch her phone. By noon, they door knocked. She opened it with the same breath she taken too many times this past few weeks.

Daniel parents stood there again. Daniel's father was fuming and his wife looked like she had barely slept. "He Is telling the truth", Daniels mother said without breathing. "He wouldn't lie to you", she added. Velma stood silently, arms crossed in a plain tee and leggings. "he doesn't know how he handed up like that, you know our son he doesn't drink heavily, he doesn't behave like that", Daniel's mother continueed. Velma's voice was cold "then maybe he didn't care enough to stay awake". His father stepped forward and asked" are you going to leave again,Velma,is this how you are going to handle things . That question sliced deeper than she expected. She didn't answer ."You said you were here to stay ,you said you weren't the same girl who walked away" Daniel's mother pressed."And I'm not,that's why I won't stay with a man who betrays me even once",Velma replied steady. The room thickened. "So what are you saying?that you would throw him away over a misunderstanding,over a trap that Olivia clearly set", Daniel's father barked.

Velma didn't flinch."You picked her for him,maybe that is what you wanted all along". Mrs Shay opened her mouth the closed it again. Velma looked down once ,then up and something in her eyes hardened."if he is innocent....then the truth will show itself but I won't sit down hoping the same man who broke me once doesn't do it again",Velma muttered. No tears. No breakdown, just quiet fire. His parents starred at her for long. Then turned and left. The door slammed behind them. Velma locked it gently and for the first time since the night before,she let herself breathe.

She had walked through fire but this time,she didn't run.