The Day My Life Shattered
The day of my wedding, my fiancé, that two-
timing jerk, left me standing at the altar. He
straight–up took off with my best friend,
holding her hand down the aisle. I was a mess,
running out of the venue like my hair was on
fire. And then, bam! A car hits me, and I wake
up paralyzed. My dance career,a the thing I
lived for, was just gone, poof, like a bad dream.
I was spiraling, ready to jump into the river,
when my best friend’s uncle, this guy, Jake,
pulled me back from the edge. Out of nowhere,
he declares his love for me to the whole world.
We have this huge, fairytale wedding, and I’m
now Mrs. Jake Caldwell.
But on our third anniversary, I’m chilling in the
house, and I overhear him talking to his
assistant.
“Same routine,” Jake says, like he’s ordering a
burger, “Tell the doctor to switch her leg meds
to vitamins, and make up some excuse to
cancel her physical therapy.”
<
The assistant’s all uneasy, “But Jake, the
doctor said if we keep delaying her treatment,
she might never walk again.”
“And you know,” he goes on, “that whole thing
with me hiring someone to hit her? That was so
Mia could become the principal dancer, and
now she’s got this rich husband eating out of
her hand. Do you still have to keep her down?”
“Just shut up,” Jake snaps, “If she can’t walk,
she can’t walk. I’m not going to stop taking care
of her.” Then, he says this, looking all sad and
lost, “Since me and Mia can’t be together
because of the freakin‘ rules, I’m going to look
after her for the rest of my life. No way will
anyone get in her way.”
My heart almost stopped. I stumbled back,
shocked, trying not to scream. All this, my
accident, the ‘rescue‘ by Jake…he planned it all.
Tears were streaming down my face, and my
chest felt like it was caving in.
I heard footsteps and spun my wheelchair
around, hauling myself into the back garden.
And there it was, Jake’s private storage room,
<
the one he keeps locked up. But the door was
cracked open.
I pushed my chair inside. The walls were
covered in pictures of Mia, from when she was
a little kid all the way up to now. There were
dance awards, trophies, even copies of all the
dance shoes and outfits she’d worn it was
–
like a shrine. Jake was completely obsessed
with her.
Then I saw it, right in the center of the room, an adoption paper. Jake was adopted by Mia’s grandfather when he was a teenager. They’re
not blood relatives.
I was laughing and crying at the same time.
Jake had played me like a fiddle. Well, two
could play at that game.
I pulled myself together and wheeled out of
there, bumping right into Jake as I got to the
garden door.
“Hey, baby, what are you doing out here?” He
frowned. “Did you see anything?”
“Just got a little turned around,” I said, my
voice way too calm.
