The Deceivers

Stung by the rebuff, Alex tucked in his pride and proceeded with earnest

foot steps towards the only retreat; the exit.  Struggling to get through the

throng of drunken wedding guests he grappled with Sasha’s response to his

proposal. It had been unexpected, unthinkable and unwanted. 

   

      As he erupted in to the car park behind the village hall he stopped

momentarily to look skywards at the navy blue canopy, contemplating briefly

the outcome of the conversation. He had only asked her to marry him not

swim with sharks, he mused. Then his thoughts meandered further to her

current behaviour. She had always been delicate and vulnerable but recently

there had been a dramatic change. She had become outspoken and resilient.

Her hair was not a mousey brown but rather a sharp shock of red.  Her

avoidance of perfume a thing of the past. Gone was the plumpness he once

knew, replaced by a voluptuous figure. Her tone of voice no longer demure,

instead it hinted of seductiveness. She had changed and it was unnerving.

    Lost briefly in thought he did not hear the approaching foot fall of Sasha as

she neared him. She had decided to pursue him but now regretted her

weakness. Sasha knew he was having an affair. She knew the revelation had

catapulted her out of the dream world she had been occupying through their

six year  relationship. She knew it was going to be the making of her and his

downfall, amongst others. Alex’s secret; his lie soon to be exposed.

    He was ‘a catch ’or so her family and friends thought. All the things a girl

wants in a boy.  Intelligent; humorous; kind; loving; generous and faithful.  

If only they knew him like she did. Dull; witless; callous; selfish; stingy and

fickle.

Watching Alex she too began to gaze upwards.  A speckled scene of stars

proliferated the cobalt blue night canvas, like casted droplets from a busy

artist’s errant brush. Accompanying them a sliver of arched, iridescent white;

the birthing moon. Its Sharpness a precise tear, to her, symbolised their

relationship.  

    Whilst Alex was mesmerised by the scene Sasha took her cue and slunk back

to the wedding reception of his mistress; Maria. As she did so, the rumble of an

all too familiar car engine signified Alex’s departure.

    Sasha was relieved but only briefly as she bumped in to Kevin, the

Bridegroom, just outside the exit.

‘Did you tell him?’ he asked sternly, drawing on his celebration cigar.

‘No’ came her curt reply.

‘You must!’ he demanded breathlessly, exposing her to the stale smell of his friend Jack Daniels

‘It could be yours’ she fumed.

‘And?’ he said smugly ‘it doesn’t matter’.

‘What do you expect me to do Kev?’ she asked with irritation.

‘Pretend’ he said with a sickly smile ‘then we can all play happy families together’.

‘Not likely’ came her final retort.

    Sasha barged past him defensively but was caught by unforgiving hands.

‘Stop, help!’  she cried. But the noise of the reception and the first peel of a

church bell obliterated her call for assistance. Kevin’s green eyes pierced her

resolve albeit temporarily.

‘I won’t let you destroy what I have with Maria; she’s 2 months pregnant for

god’s sake’, he spat ‘Keep to the original plan bitch!’

    And that’s when it happened, the pleasant feelings of a belly laugh.

Sasha found herself bent double with waves of spasmodic laughter, as she

truly understood the irony of the situation. Her rebuff would topple them all.

Never had she possessed so much power.