He knows he's made a mistake.
According to the belief system he's been raised to accept and live by, his mistake is a deadly sin, and he's earned himself a place in Hell. (His mother's made it perfectly clear that she's terribly disappointed and hurt with his behavior and he's stoically listened to her lecture.)
According to his best friend's moral system, he's only made a mistake in the name of love-which is human-, God will forgive him and things will be okay (eventually), but only if he stays with her.
He doesn't really see things getting better anytime soon, no matter how much he tries to let his best friend's hope and optimism convince him otherwise, but neither does he consider himself a bad person-and he's not going to let his mother, or anyone else for that matter, call him that.
So what do I do now, he wonders. Do I stay here sinking deeper into self-loathing and failure; do I move forward, do I flee?
He doesn't know what to do next: all he knows is he's made a mistake, and that he can't change the past.
