Chapter 3: Lies Hurt, but so Does the Truth
This was it, the moment of truth. Jack walked into the library. Mary was at her desk as usual, writing her novel. She set down her pen looked up at Jack. He stared at her unable to say anything. How could he do it? He wasn't able to do it.
"Hello Jack!" She sounded genuinely happy. Jack didn't think he'd ever heard her sound so happy before. Could it be that she liked him as much as he did? He had to propose.
"Mary will you marry me?" Jack blurted out, fumbling with the blue feather and accidentally dropping it. Mary stared back at Jack. She was shocked beyond words. Jack would have done anything for her to just end the silence. Why did she torture him this way? "Please Mary, please marry me, please..."
Mary felt sorry for Jack, but there was nothing she could do, she'd just have to tell him the truth, "... I had no idea that you felt this way about me. But, I'm engaged to Grey. He just proposed to me minutes ago."
No, she couldn't have. He must have her. He swore it. "You don't have to marry him! I love you more than he ever could. Just say the word, and we can be together forever. Turn away from Grey. Don't make this mistake. I need you to marry me!"
"I'm sorry Jack, but I just don't feel that way about you. We can still be friends, can't we?" Mary felt like crying. She didn't like doing this, hurting people like this. She wished she could say anything else, but the truth was the truth. Lying about it would only make things worse in the end.
Jack answered quietly "Yes, we can still be friends... we can still be friends. We can still be friends..." He head slowly rolled down as he kept repeating himself. Looking down at the ground, he saw the feather lying there. Like all his dreams, it had fallen right where it had begun. "we can still be friends..."
"Jack, are you okay?" This was all to much for her. Mary had never been this mean to anyone in her life, and she wasn't even trying to. She felt miserable. A tear slowly crawled it's way down her cheek. "Please Jack, snap out of it." She stood up and walked over to Jack. Standing in front of him, she placed her hand under his chin and raised his face up to look at her. "Jack, please try to understand..."
"... I understand... I understand everything..." Suddenly great rage swelled up in Jack's voice, "We can never be friends again!" He slapped her hand away. "I hate you! I hate everybody! Leave me alone!" Jack stomped down hard on the blue feather and twisted his foot, grinding it into the ground. "We can never be friends again!" He turned around and ran out of the library.
Mary gently rubbed her wrist where Jack had hit her. Today had started off so wonderful. She sat down at her desk, buried her face in her hands and let the tears pour down, unable to contain herself any longer. "Jack... Why? I'm so sorry... please forgive me..."