Chapter 5
Lark
I turn away from my bed and my gaze snags on a picture frame sitting on the corner of my dresser.
It’s one Ma had taken when Aiden and I had rejoined my grandparents’ sixtieth wedding anniversary party last month.
We’d just shared the news that we were engaged, and in the picture, I looked so happy.
But looking at it now, I can see the truth.
While Aiden is smiling in the picture, that smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
Also, his posture isn’t relaxed. We were leaning in toward each other with our hands clasped and my other hand extended, showing the camera my ring.
However, nothing in his body language says he’s where he wants to be. Or who he wants to be with.
I thought I’d been in love with him, but was I? If I was really in love with him, wouldn’t I be feeling more devastated than I already am?
Shaking my head, I push those thoughts away for now.
A glint catches my eye and I realize I’m still wearing Aiden’s ring. A ring that probably meant nothing other than the price tag attached to it since apparently Aiden’s great-grandmother’s family heirloom ring was given to Kelly instead of me.
Dropping the box of garbage bags on the dresser, I rip the ring off my finger and stalk over to my closet.
Pushing aside some clothes in the back, I dig around until I find my small keepsake box on one of the back shelves and, with one last look at the ring, I put it in the box.
I won’t get rid of it. Instead, I’ll keep it as a reminder to myself to be more cautious and careful in the future.
Putting the box back into place, I turn and my gaze snags on the clothes Aiden had left here in the closet. Shirts, jeans, a handful of dress slacks, jackets, shirts, and a few suits. And beneath them, there are a few pairs of dress shoes and sneakers.
Fury ignites in me, and I yank each item off its hanger before tossing it out onto my bedroom floor. A few of the hangers break from the force I use, but I don’t pay them any attention.
This will be the first area I purge.
Jacket after jacket.
Shirt after shirt.
Pants after pants.
Set after set of shoes.
They’re all tossed out onto the bedroom floor.
When I’m done, I look around more critically and throw a few more items onto the pile before I step out and close my closet. I’ll eventually wash everything of mine in there because who knows if they did anything to my stuff, but that’s a job for another day.
A part of me relishes in seeing Aiden’s expensive clothes and shoes in a heap on my floor and I smirk as I picture his face when I tell him he isn’t getting any of his things back that he left here. Not that he’ll probably care. I know this small pile wouldn’t even put a dent in his bank account.
I’m brought out of my thoughts as someone puts my bedspread and sheets on top of the pile and I look up to find both Khloe and Miracle grinning at me.
“That’s the spirit, Babe! Let’s cleanse this room of everything that was the cunt licker’s!” Miracle says before pointing at my dresser. “Now, which drawers do we need to empty?”
A few hours later, the hallway is full of trash bags and boxes containing my bedding, pillows, towels, all of Aiden’s clothes and belongings he left here, plus a red thong that I’m almost positive Kelly left here on purpose.
All of which will eventually be turned to ash.
Any pictures that had Kelly or Aiden in them were taken down.
They’ll be used as target practice.
There were a few group pictures that I was able to save since either Kelly or Aiden were on the edge of the picture.
For those ones, I just cut them out of the picture and set them aside since I’ll need to get new frames or a mat for them before rehanging them.
There were a few group pictures where either Kelly or Aiden were in the middle of the group, but they were still good pictures.
Instead of cutting them up or using them as target practice, I tucked them into the same keepsake box where I put Aiden’s ring.
And the picture Ma took of Aiden and me as I showed off my new engagement ring?
I tucked it into that same box with a note written on the back to always remember his betrayal. So I never let anyone try and make me into someone I’m not. To not let someone take my dreams away from me. To wait until I’d found someone who loved me for me and not what I could do for them.
Looking back now, it’s obvious that Aiden was trying to change me little by little.
He made comments here and there about what I wore, how I dressed, and that I didn’t drive a new, expensive vehicle.
I’m not someone who cares about high-end clothes and always being dressed to the nines.
I don’t want to trade in my car every year just so I can flaunt my money.
My car isn’t brand new, but it runs perfectly fine, and I like it.
Another thing he kept trying to do was get me to go to fancy functions with him.
I went to a few, but I was never comfortable.
I always felt like I was putting on a mask because I had to act how Aiden and his parents wanted me to.
Not that it really mattered in the end. All the ladies snubbed me when they learned my name.
They saw me as beneath them because my family doesn’t flaunt our wealth.
We don’t go to tea at high noon or go shopping every day.
We don’t take luxurious vacations. The fact that I worked, and that I wanted to keep working, appalled them.
They couldn’t understand why I would work when I didn’t have to.
As they say, hindsight is 20/20. It’s so much easier to see things now than when I was in the thick of everything.
Shaking my head, I got back to work. Once everything was out in the hallway, we deep cleaned my room, making sure nothing was missed. Now that we’re done with the cleaning, I’m already starting to feel more settled.
“What are you thinking?” Miracle asks as she perches her hands on my shoulder and leans her head down on her hands before tilting her head slightly so that the top of her head is almost completely laying in the crook of my neck.
“That I’m a few steps closer to reclaiming my space. I think once I get new bedding, wash all my clothes and reframe those pictures, that might be the last steps, but time will tell. At least I didn’t succumb to him and redecorate in here. I really do prefer my style over what he wanted to do.”
Arms wrap around my waist and Khloe lays her head on my other shoulder. I tilt my head and rest mine against hers.
“I’m proud of you, Babe. However, just know that you can always talk to us if you need to vent or if you feel like you’re falling apart. We’ll always have your back. Those two are dead to us, and we’re back to the original KLM group.”
I can’t help but laugh a little at that and I shake my head at her old nickname for us three.
When we were in second grade, and before Kelly had moved here, Khloe had nicknamed us the KLM group because of our initials and that in the alphabet, those three letters were right next to each other.
I don’t know why, and maybe it was just a little girl thing, but that convinced our second-grade brains that we were meant to be best friends forever.
When Kelly joined us, we’d changed it to the KLM2 group.
Unfortunately, there were always periods of awkwardness after Kelly joined our group because she didn’t like that the three of us were friends before she came into the fold.
Many times, she’d pout or get angry because of how close I was with Miracle as well, but we’ve known each other since we were babies.
We’re so close that we consider each other sisters.
Our mothers are best friends, so we were always around each other.
Shaking my head again, I turn toward the hallway. “Time for a bonfire, target practice, and I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a drink.”
They both give me another hug as we cross the room toward the hallway.
“I brought some tequila and the makings for an old fashioned,” Miracle calls over her shoulder and I smirk.
Of course she did.
It’s her favorite drink.
Never mind that I always have the fixings for an old fashioned on hand as well as tequila and other types of alcohol, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Like me, Miracle likes mixing drinks for customers and friends alike. However, I take it a step further by brewing my own beer as well.
With the last bag in hand, I head downstairs. I need to grab a few things before heading outside. When I reach our woodworking room, I leave the bag I was carrying at the door. I refuse to let Aiden and Kelly further taint one of my two spaces that’s even more important to me than my bedroom.
Looking at the back wall, I take in my bows that are carefully hanging from hooks.
There are also some of Pappy’s bows displayed as well as some that belonged to Grandpa George and Great-Grandpa Raymond, though Grandpa George and Grandpa Raymond’s bows are all encased in frames to help protect them due to their age.
My gaze snags on the compound bow that Pappy gave me a few years ago for my thirtieth birthday.
However, instead of picking up that bow, I pick up the one beside to it, a long bow that I’d made myself.
Next, I pick up my favorite set of archery gloves and a quiver of arrows before heading back out into the hall.
Grabbing the bag that I’d left out there, I make my way through the house.
Once outside on the back patio, it doesn’t take me long before I have a fire going in the fire pit. Dusting my hands off on my jeans, I take the old fashioned Miracle hands me. Without even asking her, I know it’s a Wisconsin old fashioned and not a regular old fashioned.
The difference?
We use brandy, not bourbon.
Taking a sip, I reach into the nearest garbage bag and toss the first few pieces of Aiden’s clothing onto the fire.
More tension starts to leech out of my body as I watch them turn to ash.
I take another sip of my drink as I pick up the box of pictures that will soon meet their demise.
I pin them to the targets I keep set up back here and leave the rest in the box on the ground nearby.
Walking back to the patio, I put on my gloves before grabbing my bow and quiver.
Walking a few steps away, I get into my usual stance.
However, before I do anything else, I run my hand up and down my bow, admiring the grain of the zebra wood and the designs I’d carved into it.
As I do, I feel my heart calming and the outside world fading away.
Drawing an arrow out of my quiver, I nock it before verifying my stance is still good. Raising my arms, I cant my bow to an almost two o’clock position. Drawing back the string, I anchor, aim, and release. The arrow flies beautifully and hits its intended target.
Right smack dab in Aiden’s chest, where his heart would be.
“Whoop! Excellent shot, Babe!” Khloe yells from her seat near the fire.
“Well, he toyed with my heart for over a year. I think I’m entitled to using his as target practice.”
“Damn straight you are,” Miracle responds, a hard edge to her voice that makes me wonder what she’ll do the next time she comes face-to-face with Aiden or Kelly.
Half an hour later, I’ve driven so many arrows through all of Aiden and Kelly’s pictures, that you can’t even tell it was them to begin with.
After retrieving my arrows, I grab the now empty box and head back to the patio, setting my bow, quiver, and gloves on a table near the door.
Breaking down the box, I put it in the fire, along with the remains of the pictures and a few more clothes before retaking my seat.
As the afternoon wears on, I continue to throw in Aiden’s things and whatever they tainted bit by bit.
When I toss in the last piece, Miracle raises her glass.
“Here’s to Lark. May you always stay true to yourself, Babe, and never let anyone tell you that you aren’t worthy. This is just a speed bump. You are a strong, independent woman and I know you’ll find the right person to share your life with when the time is right.”
I smile and raise my glass as Khloe cheers on in agreement. We all clink glasses before I take another sip of my drink.
Miracle’s words wash over me as I watch the last of Aiden’s things burn to ash and I make a vow to myself.
I’ll get over this speed bump and will continue to live my life the way I want to live it. Not the way another person wants me to be. To just be me.
If someone comes along to share the journey with me, well, I just hope they love me for me. Hobbies, weapons, curves, and all.
At that thought, another one comes to me. Maybe it’s time I finally got a cat. I’ve always wanted one, and I’d brought it up to Aiden before, but he insisted he would never own one. He didn’t want fur covering his work suits all the time because it wouldn’t send the right image to his clients.
Well fuck Aiden, I think as I pull out my phone and bring up the site for the local humane shelter.
“Whatcha doing?” Khloe asks as she takes a sip of her martini.
“I’m going to get a cat.”
Both of their faces light up as they smile.
They know I’ve wanted a cat for years, and I should have listened to them when they said I shouldn’t care what others think.
No one in my family is allergic to either cats or dogs, so that wouldn’t be an issue.
They’ve even hinted before that they wouldn’t mind having one either.
Well, I’m taking that advice now.
They both scoot their chairs closer to look over my shoulders at the pictures on my phone.
As they ‘aw’ and ‘ooh’ over the pictures, once again I count my lucky stars that I have two such great friends that are here for me today to help me through this. Especially since I was betrayed so badly by two people who were so close to me.
I’m about to tell them that out loud as well, but Miracle places a finger against my lips right as I’m about to speak. She gives me a look that says ‘we know’ and I smile as I relax even further in my chair.
“Let’s find you that cat,” she tells me with a wink and I chuckle before nodding and looking back down at my phone as I scroll through picture after picture.
I’ve already removed everything of the cunt and cunt licker’s from the house, as they’ve been permanently renamed per Khloe, so the next step is to reclaim my life as my own.
As my gaze snags on a small black cat who looks like he could have been the runt of the litter, I know he’ll be my next step.
“Hello, Void,” I say as I start filling out an adoption form.