Meg invented the Paper Trail jar when we first moved in together.
I’d come home from work to find a confetti of candy coloured paper folds leading me to it. I’d stoop, snatch up each slip in turn –
Welcome home, love … You’re my star … You warm me … Never leave.
This morning when I woke, mouth sour and gummy from last night, her side of the bed was cold, empty aside from the jar. I tipped the contents on the sheet.
Your sadness stifles me … You don’t see me anymore … You’ve murdered my love for you … I’m leaving.
***************************
Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Field’s Friday Fictioneers. See here to join in and to read the other tales.
I really liked the metamorphosis of the messages. A great way of telling the story of the relationship
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Neil – that was my intention so I’m glad you felt it worked
LikeLiked by 1 person
A quick, brutal twist of the heartstrings there! Great use of the prompt, well done 😊
LikeLike
Thank very much Adam. Glad you felt it worked
LikeLike
How things change. Nice one Lynn.
LikeLike
And not in a good way. Thank you Keith
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a sad way to say good bye…..
LikeLike
Yes, isn’t it? Sad when people finish these things by letter- or even text. But perhaps she had her reasons … Thank you Violet
LikeLike
Meg is a bit of a bitch. Her switch in feeling towards him feels rather abrupt. And, this is like the “post-it note breakup” in Sex and the City! Coward’s way out.
Loved it, Lynn.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It does feels abrupt but that’s partly due to word length – I think we can assume time and events have passed. I never watched Sex in the City – how dreadful. I wonder if anyone has broken up like that in real life – sadly I think the answer is yes
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly, I think it happens more often than we think…
LikeLike
I don’t know. My impression is that the narrator’s sour and gummy mouth from the previous night was probably from over-indulging and who knows what goes with that, perhaps anger, violence? Maybe her way was the smart way.
LikeLike
Without a doubt there was over-indulgence… Maybe it was after all…
LikeLiked by 1 person
And negligence can be damaging to a relationship to. Thanks Dale
LikeLiked by 1 person
That goes without saying! 🙂
LikeLike
Ah, so glad you picked up on that Sascha! Exactly the hint I was hoping to give – perhaps he has problems of his own. Thank you very much for the thoughtful comment
LikeLiked by 1 person
The message on hers, “never leave,” was a flash that something was coming up. Sad that her initial happiness went the way to her leaving. Played out too much with marriages. Nice, but sad, take on the photo.
LikeLike
Yes, that note was a kind of flash forward, wasn’t it? Thank you for reading and for the thoughtful comment
LikeLike
I love your new tag-line, Lynn! Nice work.
LikeLike
Thanks Bill! Have changed a few bits on the blog recently – I thought after all these years it was about time!
LikeLike
Oh, that’s sad. What a shame she couldn’t just talk to him when she first felt him changing.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
LikeLike
True, but I’ve left a lot out – perhaps she did try to speak to him, perhaps he’s just not a man to listen. She might have good reason for walking away and leaving such hurtful messages. Thank you very much for reading and popping by Susan
LikeLike
This snapshot of their life takes the reader from joy and comfort to sadness and loss in just a few words. Beautiful, as always.
LikeLike
A potted story of a relationship. I guess no reall story ends well if you follow the thread to its final conclusion. Thank you for reading and the kind comment, Lish
LikeLike
Feels like whole jars full of paper notes are yet to be read. Perhaps, he will get all his answers in those.
Wonderfully written, as always.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s an interesting idea, Moon. Perhaps there’s more than just negativity in her notes. Thank you for reading and the thoughtful comment
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure, Lynn.🙂
LikeLike
Just leaving them in the jar is a poor way out, I feel for the bloke. She’s a coward
LikeLike
Maybe you’re right. But we don’t know exactly what she’s had to put up with over the years – perhaps he’s a pig! Thanks so much for reading and commenting
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe so, that’s the beauty of the piece!
LikeLike
Thank you 🙂
LikeLike
A great glimpse into their life and how a lovely idea turns very sour. Maybe talking in time would have helped.
LikeLike
Maybe they did talk. Maybe there was just too wide a gap to bridge. Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Gabi.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a clever way of condensing the story of their relationship. The references to sadness and to sourness tell us that Meg’s departure is hardly unexpected. Beautiful writing that leaves the reader to imagine the relationship based on the significant details you include.
Lovely!
LikeLike
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment Penny. I’m so glad you picked up on the sour reference. I was hoping to infer that something was amiss in their relationship, that Meg’s leaving isn’t just bitchiness out of the blue. Glad that came through to you and thank you so much for reading
LikeLike
A clever way of showing how the ending of a relationship can mirror the beginning. I’m left to wonder at all the things that happened in between, and at how long it had been since little gestures of love like this were given and reciprocated. And yet, the path out of love can be so similar across couples, maybe these two points in time are all that’s needed. Nicely done!
LikeLike
Thank you Joy. I’m glad the two ‘bookends’ to the relationship left you wondering. There might have been a thousand small injuries between those first notes and the last – from both sides. Thank you for your thoughtful comments
LikeLiked by 1 person
And the moral of that story is, don’t gush, playing at romance, be true, sincere, and talk! I like this, the ambiguity of it, and the strangeness of the relationship.
LikeLike
Thank you Jane. I don’t mind romance, but it’s an insubstantial premise on which to build a relationship, which is more about empathy, patience, understanding and compromise. Nothing gushy about it! Thank you again
LikeLike
There’s romance and there’s that slightly phony in your face romance. I have one couple in mind in particular, holding hands under the table, whispering sweet nothings, canoodling, in perfectly banal public situations, like in our front room, or while we’d be at table. Ended in an ugly divorce.
LikeLike
Ha! I remember my other half being like that, though there was nothing false about it – we couldn’t keep our hands off each other! 28 years later, we can keep our hands off each other, but we do still hold hands 🙂
LikeLike
Holding hands doesn’t count 🙂
LikeLike
Haha! Glad to hear it 🙂
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
Dear Lynn,
How sad when a relationship goes sour. It sounds like the narrator has more of a problem than just Meg’s change of attitude. I notice that you leave us to draw our own conclusions about this couple. As always, well told.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Her side of the bed was cold” – says so much in such a few words.
Good piece
gramswisewords.blogspot.com
LikeLike
Thanks so much 🙂
LikeLike
That was rather an abrubt change. It makes you wonder why the relationship soured. Perhaps he was too dull for her.
LikeLike
I think much time passes between the sets of motes, though the word count is too small to show it. I think she must have good reason to behave like that – many people have read it that she’s a coward, but perhaps she has her reasons. Thank you Russell
LikeLike
Sometimes it happens like that.
LikeLike
Sadly, true. Thanks Dawn
LikeLiked by 1 person
YIKES … a Dear John letter on pieces of paper. A bit of a coward Meg seems to be.
You did stir my emotions with this one, Lynn. Nicely written …
Isadora 😎
LikeLike
This is brilliant Lynn. He should have realised if they were conversing through written notes there was a problem and in the end the notes showed him what he couldn’t see but too late.
LikeLike
Excellent, Lynn. I think you’ve dropped a lot of economical notes (don’t know whether the pun is intended or not 😉 ) in here. The sour and gummy mouth hints at drinking, which means that he could be abusing her, or has just become more fond of the bottle and his nights out than he is of her. I liked the way you paralleled the notes written in love and the sad notes of the ending relationship.
LikeLike
Thank you so much. Such thoughtful comments
LikeLiked by 1 person