CHAPTER FIVE

Linda's POV

The air in the sitting room felt heavy and suffocating. My mother’s voice sounded so distant as she called out to me.

“Linda? Are you okay?”

I couldn't answer, my throat tightened as I bent down to pick up the card.

Maybe I had imagined it, If I took another look maybe…

I hadn't imagined it. The names Scott Shepherd and Cynthia Ryle burned into my eyes as I took another look at the card.

It couldn't be real. No, it didn't feel real.

The sound of blood rushing to my ears drowned out everything around me.

The weight of the betrayal was just too much to bear.

First, he left me on the wedding day, and now he was marrying Cynthia. Cynthia!

“Linda?” my mother said again, her hands reaching out to steady me.

I shook my head, pulling away from her as I moved towards the couch and sat down.

I looked down at the card, my fingers were clenched so tightly around it that I was close to tearing it.

“Linda, what's going on?” My mother asked slowly, sitting beside me on the couch.

I passed the card to her without a word and she took it.

“This can't be true!” She exclaimed, her hands trembling as she read the contents of the card.

“Linda,” she started, turning to me. “This Cynthia, isn't she…,”

I raised my hand to stop her, “ I– I need a moment,” I whispered, standing up.

She opened her mouth to speak again but I ran upstairs before I could hear what she was about to say.

I slammed the door behind me and rested my back against the door, sliding down until I was sitting on the cold floor.

I pressed my fist against my chest trying to reduce the pain as sobs racked my body.

I tried to blink back the tears that blurred my vision but they fell down my cheeks unabated.

“How could he?” I whispered to the empty room. “With Cynthia of all people,”

The betrayal sliced through me like a knife, leaving behind large wounds that I knew would take some time to heal.

It wasn't even up to two weeks since he stood me up on my wedding day and he's already marrying another person.

Not just any other person, but Cynthia.

I grabbed a pillow from my bed and buried my face in it as another wave of agony hit me.

I stayed like that for what felt like hours or minutes, It didn't matter. When I finally raised my head, my eyes were heavy and my throat was dry from all the crying.

The thought of the two of them getting married was unbearable. I couldn’t help but remember the past and as I closed my eyes the memories rushed in like a flood.

We were fifteen. Scott, Cynthia and I were basically inseparable then.

We had been best friends since elementary school. We were always together, always having fun.

Scott wasn't even as close to Cynthia and they were always arguing, but I was the glue that held us together.

Cynthia would always come to our house for sleepovers and we would spend the whole night awake, having fun and sharing secrets.

Our friendship was supposed to last forever.

But forever didn't last long. The cracks in our friendship started to show when Cynthia began spending more time with Ashley's group.

Ashley was the daughter of the mayor of our town and she was sassy and popular.

She and her group of friends were very rude and treated others like trash. I was always surprised to see Cynthia among them, she wasn't like them.

That was what I thought.

At first, I didn't really mind. She was still my best friend. But she started pulling away, and became more distant.

I ignored all the signs, believing it was just a phase, until that day.

That day, the morning was chilly as I went to school. The whispers started immediately I came in, hushed voices following me as I walked the hallway.

“Did you hear?” I heard one say.

“Her dad is a drunk,”

“Her dad beats her mum,”

“Her father beats her.”

My blood turned to ice in my veins as I froze in the middle of the hallway.

How did they know about that?

My father's drinking and his violent outbursts were a secret. A painful and shameful secret I had only ever shared with one person.

Cynthia.

I looked around the hallway for her and finally found her in front of Ashley's locker, surrounded by her new friends.

She was laughing, flipping her hair over her shoulders as they talked about something.

“Cynthia!” I called out, my voice trembling with anger.

She turned to me, her smile faltering for a moment before she regained her composure.

“Linda,” she said, feigning ignorance. “Are you okay? I heard…”

“How could you?” I said, interrupting her. “How could you tell everyone about my Dad.”

Her friends snickered and she smirked, dropping the fake concern. “What makes you think it was me?” She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

“It's not like it's a secret that your Dad is a drunk, many of our classmates have seen him in the morning on his way home.”

“Exactly!” Ashley exclaimed, flipping her glossy blonde. “My dad even told me that the police had to take him away once because he was causing a scene at the bar.”

I stepped closer to her, my face just inches away from hers. “You’re the only one who knows that he beats my mother and me, Cynthia. Cut the act.”

“Oh,” she said, her friends echoing it with her. “It just….slipped.”

“Slipped?”I repeated, my voice rising. “You told the whole school! You knew how much it'd hurt me and you still did it.”

Cynthia burst into laughter, tilting her head back. “Look, Linda, I don't care how it makes you feel. Honestly, I got tired of being around you and your messed up family. So I'm not sorry for what I did.”

Her words hit me like a slap. I could feel the sting of tears gathering in my eyes but I held them back. I wasn't going to cry in front of her.

“You're a horrible person,” I said, my voice trembling with anger. “We are no longer friends.”

“Good,” she replied, flipping her again. “I stopped caring about you a long time ago anyway.”

The tears finally spilt as I walked away from them. From that day onwards, Cynthia became my enemy.

She and her new friends would mock and make jest of me at school.

Scott tried to make peace between us but it didn't work.

To think he would leave me to marry her. It made me wonder about a lot of things.

When did they start dating? How didn't I find out about it? Or have they been together the whole time?

A new wave of tears came and I folded myself on the bed, holding my pillow tightly.

I cried until my chest ached and my throat became dry and raw.

I didn't realize how fast the time went and I eventually fell asleep from the exhaustion.

In my dreams I was back in high school with Scott beside me, his hands brushing mine as we sat in the cafeteria.

Cynthia was there too and we were laughing about something. We were happy.

Suddenly, Cynthia's smile twisted into a wicked smirk and Scott stood up from beside me to sit with her.

Both of them faced me and chorused.

“You are cordially invited to the wedding of Scott Shepherd and Cynthia Ryle.”

I froze in my seat staring at them as they repeated it over and over again.

“You are cordially invited to the wedding of Scott Shepherd and Cynthia Ryle.”

I pressed my hands to my ears trying to block them out but it didn't work. Then I started screaming.

I jolted awake to hear the loud banging on my door. “Linda? Are you okay?” my mother asked from the other side of the door.

I cleared my throat, trying to steady myself. “I’m fine mum, just a bad dream.”

There was a pause before she finally answered. “Alright.”

I looked at the clock, it was already evening. “How long had I been sleeping?”

I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

The sharp sound of my ringtone jolted me and I sat up quickly and grabbed the phone from the nightstand.

The name on the screen hit me like a slap on the face.

Scott