All Chapters of Years of Regrets, Fleeting Farewells: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

My eyes burned as I sat frozen, my mind spinning out of control.My son, Liam, huffed in frustration.“Mom, say something. Dad gave you a choice. You’re not as young or pretty as Aunt Abigail. Are you that slow, too?”A sharp ache pierced my chest. I couldn't breathe.Liam’s irritation only grew.“There you go, crying again. You’re so pathetic. This is why I hate being seen with you.”He rolled his eyes.“Oh, and last week’s parent-teacher conference? It wasn't canceled. I had Aunt Abigail go instead.”The words hit me like a physical blow.I stared at him in disbelief. In all six years of elementary school, Liam had never let me attend a single school meeting. When he finally asked me to go last week, I was so thrilled I couldn't sleep.Then came the sudden, violent allergic reaction on the morning of the event. Desperate not to be late, I swallowed a handful of emergency pills and tried to push through it.Liam had acted shocked that I was so sick, then casually clai

I sat alone on the floor until dawn.When morning came, I pulled myself up and found a knife in the kitchen. I held the standard steel against my wrist, cool and deliberate, tracing the faint blue line of my vein.Before I could press down, the front door crashed open.Danny burst in, his face dark with rage. He completely ignored the blade in my hand and grabbed my arm, his eyes burning with disappointment.“Why? Why would you do something like that?!”My head throbbed after an entire night without sleep. “What are you talking about?” I rasped.Liam’s eyes were bloodshot as he sprinted into the room and threw his body against me.“Aunt Abigail’s house caught fire last night!” he sobbed, pounding his small fists against my legs. “If she hadn't been with us, she would have burned to death!”The sudden impact sent me crashing back onto the floor.A sharp, curdling scream ripped through the living room.I scrambled up, horrified, only to see Liam clutching a gash on his pa

“Elena!”Danny scooped me into his arms and rushed me straight to the emergency room.“She was three months pregnant! How could she be hurt this badly?!”Under the doctor’s fierce reprimand, Danny’s face turned ghastly white.He had no idea. I had never told him.In fact, I hadn't even known myself.Danny collapsed onto the cold hospital floor outside the operating room. He looked down at his bloodstained hands. There was more blood on him now than the night I took a blade for him.He raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.I had been by his side for so many years. How could he have hurt me like this?Tears welled in the corners of his eyes, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.Suddenly, his ringing phone jolted him. He numbly pressed accept.Liam’s cheerful voice came through the speaker.“Dad! We found Aunt Abigail! She just passed out on the side of the road while buying groceries. She’s completely fine now!”Liam rambled on happily. Sensing Dan

When I finally woke up, it was late afternoon the following day.Even though the scandal had already been pulled down from the headlines, the damage left in its wake was impossible to hide.Danny was terrified. He scrambled across the room, desperately trying to snatch my phone out of my hands.“Elena, don't read that! It’s all malicious lies! Just rest. I’ll take care of everything, I promise.”“Let’s get a divorce.”The phone slipped from his trembling hands and shattered against the floor.From the very beginning, he was the only one pushing for an end to our marriage. I had spent years running away from the truth, begging him to stay.Now, there was nothing left inside me.All I wanted was to be free.I looked him in the eye and repeated myself.“Danny. I want a divorce.”“No,” he stammered, shaking his head frantically. “No, I won't sign anything.”I stared at him, exhausted by the absurdity of it all.“From the moment you set me up five years ago, Danny, we were