On the outside, Mr and Mrs Mallard were a perfectly normal, happy couple. They had been married for 4 years, and lived in a lovely, affluent neighbourhood where everybody knew everybody else. On the inside though, they were both unhappy, they were both suffering, and nothing could be done about it.
Mrs Mallard was not happy. She felt trapped, she was unhappy, she was lost, all hope she had previously had abandoning her. She couldn't explain the feeling, she just knew that there was something missing. Every morning when she woke up, she put on a smile, faking happiness, putting on a show for others, keeping up the expectations forced upon her by her family and friends.
When they were younger there was an instant spark between Mr and Mrs Mallard, but as they aged it dimmed, and as they changed, the spark started to disappear, leaving regret in its place. Mr Mallard could sense his wife's unhappiness, but he didn't know what to do about it. Every time he tried to talk to her about it she waved him off, saying everything was fine or it was just a phase. He knew they were drifting apart, and he desperately wanted to save their marriage, relight the flame that went out all that time ago, but they were too far gone. There was only so much more he could do, but he knew it was pointless, his wife having already given up on them. Yet they pretended that everything was okay, that they were both happy.
On that fateful day Mr Mallard felt freedom, something he hadn't felt since he was a little boy. He knew he should've been upset, his wife had died earlier in the day, but he couldn't shake the feeling that both they were both yearning for, freedom. Richards explained everything to him later in the day, how they thought he had died in a train crash, how his wife was upset, and that seeing him alive caused her to have a heart attack. The doctors described it as the happiness that kills but he knew better. He knew that like himself, his wife felt trapped in their relationship, and nothing could be done about it. He loved his wife, unconditionally, but he saw her death more as a blessing than a tragedy, allowing both of them to be free. Even more than that, he knew that when he "died", his wife must have felt the same way, with the same freedom he currently felt.
As it turns out, it wasn't what was missing that made them feel lost, but what was there. They both lacked the independence that they so desperately yearned for, the feeling of being free. The feeling that they had both lost so long ago
What people fail to understand is that death isn't a negative thing. Sure, it has connotations of unhappiness, but it's really just people moving on, growing tired of their life, wanting something different. It doesn't matter if it's from old age, or sickness, or an accident, death frees people. Mr and Mrs Mallard learnt this the hard way, but they learnt it, which is more than can be said for other people. Death is inevitable, its unavoidable, it's the inescapable truth that everyone has to face at some point. Neither Mr or Mrs Mallard wanted to die, but to achieve the freedom they both so desperately wanted, there was no other way. Society would expect them to be together, to be happy, but the reality of life isn't like that. People aren't happy, and it's wrong that people assume that. Not everyone has the perfect life, and as much as you try to achieve it, perfection is unreachable. But sometimes the only way achieve perfection is to move on from that life, and to move on from others expectations. To Mr and Mrs Mallard, death isn't sad, with death comes the happiest feeling they have ever had. The feeling of freedom.