Love Lost - prompt story

It was a day poets would write about and artists would capture on their canvas, yet his pity now imprisoned him to solitude.

He gazed out watching life unfold.

Occasionally cyclists in groups or alone would speed by him disrupting his view. He once would have been irritated, but even energy for annoyance appeared to have been sucked out of him.

The field before him was a panorama of summer family life. He watched as parents guided children down the hidden path to the river. For many of these children, it would be the first sensation of the cold fresh river waters caressing their feet. A reunion group of some sort was attempting to establish a volley ball game by taunting prospective players in order to get enough to make a team. Either side of him revealed families gathered around picnic tables. Some resorted to fast food buckets of chicken while others proudly blew on coals willing to be patient to have a “true” picnic grilling experience. For those who didn’t have the foresight or the early bird advantage to grab a picnic table or grill space, there was no deterrent. The day demanded finding a spot and throwing down a blanket to enjoy the dayregardlessof the location.

He glanced to one such blanket and saw a mother daughter Frisbee throwing duet; each running jumping and capturing or failing in full delight.

The river park was alive with life for everyone but him.

He sat yearning their joy. It should have been his as well. They should have been sitting on a blanket on a rock below the path. He should have been sitting holding her tight on the edge of the shore, watching the river flow to it’s destiny. They should have been sharing a close embrace with a closed eye moment only for them.

Instead he was alone.

It was surreal. How did he go from such bliss to being alone once again?

He shook his head at the momentary memory of her in an attempt to erase it.

She couldn’t leave him alone. Even in this beauty, she haunted him and the memories of her betrayal eyes would not vanish.

He shifted in his seat with a shudder. “She didn’t just leave, she betrayed me” he thought.

He viewed the scene before him and inhaled a slow deep breath hoping that he could inhale life from the life he saw.

He pulled his book out to read. It fell open to his bookmark – the first picture he took of her.

The memories returned.

When they first met, her eyes captivated him. They had a blue that matched the sky she was below. Each time their eyes met he could see right into her soul. It was a secret they shared She would flit her hair around in a tempestuous manner shyly teasing him with each glance as she spoke with her friends. Every so often she would break their discussion to sneak looks at him. He could tell that they were obvious stares begging him to walk over and talk to her, but his inhibited nature kept him from boldly approaching her to start any discussion. They played this game of cat and mouse for weeks. She always showed up, her and her friends following their same rituals of teasing games while he sat on the side yearning to respond but lacking the courage to act.

A crush of bright yellow falling before his feet startled him from his thoughts.
A man in a football jersey rushed up to him. A young boy trailed at his heels. He recognized him as the dad role of the mom/daughter Frisbee game he had watched earlier. Frisbee dad apologized, “I just bought this kite for my son, and I am afraid I don’t quite know how to handle it yet. I am sorry.” He glanced over seeing the mother who had been throwing the Frisbee with her daughter waving with an apologetic gesture. Frisbees and kites.This family was trying it all.

The father gathered the kite and strings up as he headed back to their blanketed patch in the field. His son paused looking at the man with a hesitary question, but was then distracted as his father ran back towards the field. He speedily ran after his father begging, “This time can I try?" He followed their path back to where Frisbee throwing mom and daughter sat preparing their picnic. The daughter was looking at him but was distracted by a sudden ambush of a tackle by her brother. She wrestled with him for a moment twisting him over to claim victory. She clasped her hands together and waved her arms in the air with a victory gesture, winking at him as her glance caught his..
He thought back with affection to their first true day together as one. He had been so excited. He carried her in over the threshold as the blushing bride. Memories are moments, and he wished that had been one he had captured and somehow preserved
However, everything sours if not nurtured correctly

The reunion volley ball game had escalated to a level only extreme levels of alcohol could produce. Mooning had become the flag for all foul balls followed by screeching from the spectators. Three girls had become the tittie score board. The game had it's own new twist..

He looked over again to Frisbee family. The son was attempting to jump in and help his parents with the now tangled mess. They were laughing rather than bickering over the predicament. He watched how her hands softly ran down his back as he struggled with the knots in the string. She was encouraging him with each stroke subsiding the frustration which was visible on his face while the daughter began to dance around with the extra kite tails. She was running around letting the tails follow her leaps as if they were star beams following her movements. Mom and dad were trying to untangle the kite strings.

The Frisbees didn't fight, but They had.

He had given her what he believed to be a castle any princess would desire.. He treated her like Antoinette and gave her cake and champagne (although he remembered with a smile how she made a bitter face with the taste of champagne). For someone who deserved such fineries in life, she hadn't yet acquired the taste.

At first, he thought that was the root of the troubles in their relationship. He still couldn't wrap his mind about what could have possibly gone wrong. Upon moving in, she began to cry incessantly. Even he knew that isn't what a happy relationship is based upon.. She whined and complained about everything. He knew she was freaked out by her sudden happiness, but this just wasn't a reaction he expected. He gave her time, because he believed that was all she needed.

A couple rode by on their mountain bikes with their child in tow on some sort of bike attachment. He was smiling and swaying his arms out at the air as it swooshed by him.


He believed that was the true problem. He wanted a family.

Why was that such a strange thing for a guy to want? Most guys only want money and well, money. Did it make him a whimp to want a family? Did it make him less of a man? Was that abnormal?
He recalled the moment he shared his dream of a family with her. He expected exuberance, and received repulsion. She hadn't stopped her crying phase, but he had hoped this exciting news just might jolt her out of the abyss of tears she had fallen into. Howeve, when he shared his dreams, she had shrunk further from him with a cry and what one could only describe as an expression of disgust. She moaned and whined. His compassion was beginning to wane.

The chasm deepened.

A high pitched squeal shook him from his thoughts. A girl was running across the field being chased by her friends all holding water balloons in aim position.

He looked again at his photo bookmark. He could no longer recall that squeal of happiness she once had herself. Did she ever have one, or was that just one of the many illusions she had deceived him with?

She had used him. Once together, he bought her everything. He had scoured stores to buy her treasures, yet she received them all with scorn.

He began to let the poison of anger seep into his soul and their relationship. He saw that now. She had never been satisfied with the gifts he brought home to share with her. She threw them aside in disdain. She was insatiable and greedy because nothing could satisfy her. The pure innocence she had portrayed while capturing his soul was quickly shed once he took her into his home. Although he was thwarted by being unable to quench her materialism, he knew she loved him and was determined to follow their path of destiny.

He looked again at Frisbee mom and family. Mom and daughter were dispensing the goodies from the basket. She probably put love and compassion into every piece of food she made he thought. The basket she was pulling the lunch from looked worn and used. She didn’t seem to care. She doesn’t obsess over looks or appearances; she cares about the moment and her family. The girl snagged some grapes out of her mother's hand as the mother faked a look of shock. They know love. The girl began to take each grape off the stem in almost a ritualistic manner and suck each one enjoying each to the fullest before trying the next. She smiled at a joke her brother made then bit the last grape off of the stem. She puckered her lips to show her satisfaction. She looked up and their eyes met. She smiled.

He slipped back into his memories.

Why had she betrayed him. His tormented thoughts returned to last night. She betrayed him by wanting more than him. She was selfish and couldn't see their dream. She was greedy and always wanted more.

It was the betrayal. Time and time again he wanted to forgive her for her betrayal. They were enwrapped in passion and she yelled HIS name again. She looked at him and told him that she couldn’t love him and again kept saying the other man’s name. With her refusal to stop saying it, she was mocking and humiliating him. She was betraying him. Why couldn’t she just stop and realize? She knew the truth why couldn’t she let go?

He caressed her with kisses to knowing he could wake the soul within her. Even with her contained refusals, he made love to her sharing all that embodied him. He answered each sultry request she had ever asked of him with those seductive eyes. He satisfied every need he knew she had.

Yet it didn't change. She couldn't let go she had to continue the betrayal.

Even with all he did, all he gave, she kept yearning for HIM, the other man.

“I want my Daddy.” She kept begging making his head spin.

"You don't stop wanting" he sneered.

"I have told you over and over again that you only want me and yet you still want more and more and more.... and want HIM."

He could no longer forgive the her. Regardless of everything he had done for her, she still wanted to suck the life from him and he had nothing more to give her. The love she had invoked in him had turn to a poisonous hatred. She now disgusted him.

He looked into her eyes. They betrayed him. He held her throat . She kept trying to utter the words of the greed in her mind.

He held tight so she could no longer say the words that cut him. He felt her body twitch as she struggled to beg for yet more. He stared deep into her her eyes of blue that once seduced him. He stared until they no longer betrayed.

He shook himself back into the present. and gazed at the field.

Frisbee daughter stood up challenging her brother for race down the path. They both took off running. He sighed as he watched her hair cascading in the wind.

He kissed with sorrow the bookmark photo before crumbling it in his hand.

The light of day was beginning to shallow. He headed towards the path to the river.