1- Hamliza

1700s - after the Reynolds Pamphlet

Prompt : "I trusted you! Stupid me!"

"Eliza, wait!" I didn't turn around as I streaked up the stairs, barely able to see where I was going through the tears in my eyes.

"I trusted you! Stupid me!" I yelled, sarcasm dripping off my voice at the end. I felt a hand on my arm and turned around, facing my husband, Alexander Hamilton. "I told you to come with us! Didn't I do that? Angie was right about you all along! You weren't satisfied with me, so you went and cheated with 'Miss' Maria Reynolds! What will the children think? Philip looks up to you! Do you think I'll let you close to him? What kind of an example are you for our children? Think of William! He's not even one year old! What do you think I'm going to tell him about you when he grows up? Assuming we even stay together until that time!"

"Eliza, don't you dare pin this one on me! If you hadn't been so insistent about going upstate with Angelica, none of this would've happened!" Alexander screeched, only escalating the argument.

"So it's somehow my fault that you decided to go and cheat with her, knowing that you had a wife with five kids, out of your own free will, mind you, all because you thought work was more important than family? I get that your work is important to you, Alexander! But can you show a little more restraint? How are you any different from the young man I met when I was 22? How come you do what she wants when she tells you to stay, and never listen to me when I tell you to take a break and come visit my father?" I yanked my hand out of his grip and ran the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Mama, what's wrong?" Philip asked. I tore past him, ignoring him possibly for the first time in his life. "Papa, what's wrong with Mommy?" I heard him yell, jumping in front of his father, who cast one anguished look at me before replying.

"Everything's okay, Philip. Mommy's just a little bit mad. I'll make it okay, I promise." Alexander said. I stopped at the door to my room, turning around and looking at Alexander enveloping Philip in a hug.

I wish you could keep that promise, Alexander. I thought to myself. You never seem to keep any one of the promises you made to me. You swore I would never feel helpless anymore. You swore! But you're making me feel more and more helpless with each passing second.

"Mommy, stay!" I heard James and Angelica cry. I knelt down and hugged them, glaring at Alexander over their shoulders.

"Mommy's gonna stay with Auntie Angelica for a while, but I'll be back, okay? Don't worry." I said, smiling at them. Then I let go of them and ran into the bedroom, Alexander's footsteps quickly following.

"Eliza, listen to me. I had to do what I did. If I didn't, then that would've been our legacy! Our legacy, Elizabeth!" I turned around and picked up his letters to me.

"Legacy? Is your legacy more important than your family? You should have written us out of the narrative! We don't need to be included in your sob story of how you went and cheated on your family. Remember! You have no control over who lives, who dies, and who tells your story! If you die early, rest assured, I won't be the one who tells your story. Future historians will wonder what happened to Alexander Hamilton. You won't have a legacy after tonight, Alexander!" I watched his eyes widen as I dropped his letters to me into the fire, the flames hungrily licking at the parchment.

"I hope that you burn, Alexander. I won't be there to catch you when you fall."