Meggie looked up from the single sheet of rough paper sitting on the desk before her, covered in lines of her best hand writing; all crossed out hastily when she had read them through and felt they were too terse or brief. –She had tried again and again to come up with the correct words, but wherever the right words were, they were hiding from her.
Maybe they were hiding because she was never supposed to write them: how she felt was never supposed to be. But….. She couldn't go on this way forever. She looked around the room for inspiration, but it was just a normal attic; nothing special. Wooden floor and walls, small square window opposite her. All she could see through it was rain, splattering the glass and blurring the outside world, consuming it. Just as doubt was consuming her mind.
Eventually, Meggie sighed and slumped down onto the desk, as if all the strain had simply sapped the life from her. A single tear rolled down her face and onto the paper, smudging the scribbled out words, the ink running into the tear drop, turning it light purple.
A second tear followed. Then a third, and a fourth, until she was weeping unconditionally, her hands over her face, a picture of the deepest despair.
The door behind her swung open with a whoosh of air, and Mo stood in the doorway, a concerned expression on his fatherly features. As alarming as the sight of Meggie wailing was, he rushed forward and knelt down by her side.
"Meggie, it's OK," He didn't ask what was wrong: he knew she would tell him when she was ready.
She clutched at him, her hands holding his shirt as if it were her lifeline.
After a few minutes, the crying subsided slightly, and she was able to say in a soggy sort of voice, "Mo, I don't know what to do…." She gasped a few times, as you always do after crying. "It's Doria…And Farid…" She could say no more, because just saying their names brought on a fresh wave of despair.
But Mo could guess the rest. He had noticed how she had been acting lately, especially around Doria. She loved him, he could tell that much, but did she still love Farid? Could she betray him?
Her violent sobs told him the answer.