MidReal Story
Broken Bonds: A Mother's Betrayal
Scenario: a wife who left her family to find a better future with another man
Create my version of this story
I sat on the couch, book in hand, staring at words that refused to sink in.
The book weighed heavily in my hands, but not nearly as much as the realization that I was unhappy with my life.
I wasn’t supposed to be unhappy.
I had the perfect husband, the perfect daughter, the perfect life.
I was supposed to be happy.
But I wasn’t, and the weight of my unfulfilled dreams and aspirations bore down on me like an anchor amidst a stormy sea.
It wasn’t always like this, I thought to myself for what felt like the hundredth time in as many days.
And it wasn’t.
There had been a time where everything was different.
Where I felt free and light, with so much potential and excitement for the future.
But now that future seemed to stretch out before me, dark and bleak and filled with nothing but more days just like this one.
“Hey babe,” my husband said, glancing over at me from his spot at the kitchen table.
He was hunched over his computer, glasses perched on his nose as he looked over spreadsheets and emails, his eyes scanning over numbers and figures with an ease that came from years of practice.
He was a handsome man, John Johnson.
His dark hair was graying at the temples, but it only added to his charm and sophistication.
He was tall and well-built, taking good care of himself even though he worked a desk job where he sat for most of his day.
He dressed well and always smelled good, even when he had just returned home from a long day at the office, which was something he did more often than not.
John worked hard, but he always made time for Sarah and me, even if it meant coming home late or working on weekends.
He never missed a dinner or a ballet recital or a parent-teacher conference.
I appreciated him for that, even if my feelings for him didn’t quite run as deep as they should have considering we were married with children.
I tried to smile at him, but I’m not sure how successful I was given the way his face fell when he saw me.
“Everything okay?”
he asked, his concern clear in his voice.
“Yeah,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Everything is fine.”
“Okay,” he said slowly before glancing back down at his computer.
More words that didn’t need to be said hung heavily between us, but neither of us brought them up as the weight of them settled over our house like an invisible fog that we couldn’t quite shake.
I didn’t go back to my book after that, instead staring at the pages as I thought back on the life I had always imagined I would have versus the one I now lived day in and day out.
The sounds of laughter filled the room, pulling me from the depths of my contemplation as I watched my daughter twirl around in her ballet slippers.
Her brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun on the top of her head, flyaway hairs sticking out in every direction as she spun around without a care in the world.
Her eyes were closed as she threw her arms up in the air, her smile wide as she let out a peal of laughter that made me forget about everything else except for her.
She was so innocent, so young, and I hoped that she would never have to feel the way I did most days.
I closed my eyes and listened to her laugh as I took in the sound of her carefree joy filling our home.
I watched her through half-closed lids as she twirled around in her dress-up clothes, her favorite princess tutu swishing around her legs as she spread her arms wide and spun in circles until she couldn’t go anymore.
Her little ballet slippers were already looking worn, but she loved them all the same as she clacked around the hardwood floors without a care in the world.
“Mama, come dance with me!”
She said, opening her eyes and looking at me from across the room, her smile so bright that I had to force myself to smile back at her as I slowly got to my feet and moved to join her in the center of the room.
I took her outstretched hand and we began to dance together just like we had done so many times before, the music only something I could hear in my head as we spun around and twirled together in the center of our living room.
Her giggles were infectious and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her, the heaviness that had been weighing down on me all day finally disappearing as I let go and allowed myself to feel truly happy for the first time in what felt like forever.
We danced around the room together for what felt like hours, neither of us tiring or stopping until Sarah collapsed on the floor with a fit of giggles, her cheeks flushed and her smile so wide that it stretched from ear to ear as I watched her catch her breath from my spot on the couch.
“Mama,” she said finally, looking at me from across the room once more as she lay draped on the floor like a rag doll, her arms and legs spread out around her haphazardly like she was melting into the ground beneath her.
“Come play with me.”
I laughed at the sight of her before shaking my head with a small smile.
“You know I can’t right now,” I told her softly, my smile waning a bit at the sight of her sad little frown even though I knew she understood why I couldn’t join her in whatever game she happened to be playing at that moment.
“Why not?”
“You know I love playing with you, Sarah.” I told her, standing up from my spot on the couch and moving towards her, holding out my hand and helping her up off the floor.
“But you’ve got to let Mama finish this chapter first, okay?”
Sarah’s face fell at the thought of being alone for even a moment, but she nodded anyway, her little face lighting up again as she said, “Okay, Mama.
I’ll go get my dolls set up for our tea party and you can join us when you’re done.”
I felt guilty for not being more enthusiastic about her tea party, but I only smiled at her and nodded.
“That sounds perfect, baby girl.I’ll be there soon.”
Sarah smiled at me once more before skipping out of the room, her long brown hair trailing behind her as she ran off to find her dolls and set up for our tea party.
I watched her go, the smile on my face fading as soon as she was out of sight and my heart felt heavy in my chest once more.
It wasn’t Sarah’s fault that I was unhappy or that it was so hard for me to force myself to play with her sometimes.
She was only six years old—what did she know about the demons that plagued her mother’s mind all day long?
Sarah and her brother were the only reasons I had stayed in the first place, but as much as I had hoped that they would be able to bring me out of whatever darkness kept me anchored in place, they hadn’t.
I loved them as much as any mother could love her children, but they hardly seemed like enough to keep me from running away sometimes.
I watched John play with Sarah in the center of the room, her dolls arranged in a circle on the floor around them like they were having a real tea party, and a pang of regret hit me in the chest.
John Johnson was a good man, but that wasn’t enough to keep me happy—not when my mind was always somewhere else, even if I didn’t know where that somewhere else was half the time or what it would take to get there.
It wasn’t fair to him—not when he had always been so good to me or had done everything in his power to make me happy—even if we weren’t always happy together.
We had fallen in love like so many other high-school sweethearts, both of us convinced we would be happy with nothing more than each other forever.
My decision to marry him had been driven by a need to escape my small-town life and move onto something bigger and better, even if he had been just as big a part of those dreams as anything else.
I had been so sure that once we were finally married, all of those feelings would disappear and I would finally feel fulfilled for the first time in my life, but it turned out that wasn’t true either.
I had been so caught up in what could be that I hadn’t even stopped to consider if this was what I truly wanted or if there was another way for me to find my happiness, no matter how long it took or what it took for me to get it.
