It was the beginning of a new era for Mariana, a fresh slate where she could start a new life. Though her time locked up was short, it was that exact experience that gave her a new outlook to the world. While she still carried the same bold personality that she had before she went away, she felt like she needed to have a purpose and that started with being good. For someone who was used to living life as she pleased without any recollection of the consequences, to suddenly live life by a rule book was a complete change. In a way, it made her feel no different from anyone else because the part that made her special was gone. Instead, she was just another single sheep in a flock of many.
In the days that had passed since her release, she managed to keep out of any trouble, not wanting to risk her chances in going back. Life had been very dull so it was no surprise that an incident at the counter immediately caught her attention. Mariana had many flaws but there was one thing she wasn’t and that was unkind. The people that most people frowned upon or even blatantly ignored were the ones she went out of her way to take notice of. Cleaners, bus drivers, checkout operators, waiters and waitresses; they were just as important as anyone else and just because they didn’t get paid as much as high paying jobs, they still mattered. It was from this, that her undying hatred for big corporations and government ruled societies lied. They didn’t care about the lowly-paid employee or the unemployed graduate struggling to get work, all they cared about was money and power which were two concepts that she could never quite understand.
From what she could gather in front of her, a lady had messed up a man’s order. Of course, that was rather irritating – it was time-consuming after all but in the end, did it matter? People are going to make mistakes and sometimes you just have to accept them and move on. There was no reason for the man’s outburst at the woman and there was something about the whole situation that made Mariana’s bones boil. For he didn’t need to treat her like that.
An exasperated sigh escaped her lips, clearly to make the man aware of her presence before she would put in her two cents worth. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, whether you’re someone who thinks themselves more important than anyone else but honestly, I think your business is not welcome here and would be better of elsewhere. The lady made a mistake, big deal. I bet you sir, make mistakes all the time. Maybe you took a wrong turn or you accidentally spilt something on the carpet. Does someone yell at you when you do? I highly doubt it. Now, I highly suggest you apologise or find somewhere else to take your temper,” she proceeded to say, only pausing once she was finished.
Grief did something to a person, changed one from the inside out, affected someone beyond the tears. It hardened hearts, turned souls inside out, tore through mindsets. It hurt and it ached, and it never, ever stopped. Even when one thought it wasn’t there, it lingered. Even when years had gone by, it stayed. This was the way grief worked, and thus was life. Marcus Ealy knew because he’d spent months doubled over crying, and then years after that trying not to cry. He knew because he’d seen grief take place in his life --- the unmovable, moving entity had been present since he was seventeen, and he was now thirty three. He knew what he knew because he’d lived it out.
A boy as young as seventeen had to cope one way or another. A boy like Marcus Ealy who had previously had everything he wanted in the world had to find a way to tear through the ache that settled throughout his whole body. When his parents died, the young man they left behind swore that he’d never let any unwanted thing happen to him again. When his parents died, Marcus Ealy swore he was done with surprises. Everything that happened in his life in the moments after that, he swore would be not because of some god or some entity, but because he willed it. He took control of his life, and he became who he wanted to be. This was the way he lived, the way he wanted to live.
And then, along came Mariana Marquez, a girl who changed everything.
She had come in like an undetected storm, wild and unnerving. Her eyes had been the color of love, and her smile, dazzling. Mariana Marquez took everything that Marcus Ealy stood for in those days, and she turned them around in such a beautiful way that he found something to live for again. The lightning of her kisses kickstarted his heart, and like a dart straight to the center, he had found something to be happy about. But there was something about her, too: the disaster after the storm. The storm was beautiful when it was there, but, once gone, it left an area of devastation. And that was the way it was for Marcus Ealy. He was given life, only so to be deprived of it once again.
Everything went back as it should after some years, though; Marcus once more swore to himself that he was done with surprises.
And yet, life did not always go his way. See, here Mariana was, looking back at him once he had turned from where he stood in life. Here Mariana was, yapping at him just like she used to when they were much younger. Here Mariana was, after all these years. Here Mariana was, after Marcus had seen her locked up behind bars only about two weeks ago. Here Mariana was, and she was the biggest surprise of all.
Marcus said nothing. He couldn’t say anything but. Instead, he stared, he stared, he stared, as though someone had released one of his skeletons from the closet.
