Chapter 36 Witness X
Witness X
Be Patient
So many people underestimate the beauty and importance of silence. A pause, executed at the right time, can be very powerful. Everyone is in such a rush these days.
I blame social media. Everything is so instant and available now.
And nobody cares about the proper execution of revenge anymore.
It’s not difficult. Opportunities will present themselves if you really want to hurt a person. You don’t even have to go looking for them. This is where people mess up: they become impatient and force the situation.
It may take weeks, months, or even years, but believe me, if someone has it coming, your opportunity to end them will appear. All you have to do is be patient and seize the opportunity when it arises.
In my case, it came at 1:46 a.m. one cold Saturday morning. I thought it would make things better. It did in some ways, but not in others.
Sometimes, of course, the best revenge is no revenge at all. To simply move on and live many happy, successful years, knowing you’re better than the person who wronged you. It takes a colossal amount of character to rise above. Not many people have it in them.
Declan did. After I shattered his heart into a thousand pieces, he left the next day without so much as a word. No more contact. No drama. Nothing.
Imagine having that much restraint. That much dignity. He simply disappeared, like a ghost.
His silence hurt more than any number of verbal insults could have. That action said, I am better off without you. I do not need you. I wanted him to beg for us to work through it.
He didn’t. His life improved without me in it. Is there any crueler revenge?
I search for him on Instagram sometimes in particularly potent moments of self-loathing, for who I am, for who I could have been.
He’s aged well. In each of his photos, he’s surrounded by his pretty, brunette wife and three beautiful children.
Declan is a family man; I always knew he would be.
His life consists of splashing around the pool with his little blonde-haired daughter on his shoulders, date nights with his dewy-skinned wife, and team days away at corporate functions.
He’s always been well liked. Good for him, truly.
The best thing to happen to him was me breaking his heart. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
I’m trying so hard to shed the skin of the person I was. I know she existed to survive what was happening around her, but I did not like her. I am ravaged with shame because of it, and I think I am a better person now. I try to be, anyway.
But her? Has she changed? I doubt it.
She learned from the best, after all.