**Staring Into the Void**
Tom and Lily got married when they were just 19. They couldnt live or breathe without each otherit was that kind of reckless, all-consuming love. Their parents, worried things might get out of hand, quickly made it official. The wedding was grand, unforgettableflowers everywhere, fireworks, a fancy reception hall, the works. The car was decorated, guests shouted, “Kiss the bride!” and all that.
Lilys parents couldnt chip inthey barely scraped by as it was, just enough for cheap meals and, well, the pub. Toms mum, AlexandraAlex for shortcovered everything. Shed warned Tom about getting serious with a girl whose parents were always half-cut. “Loves blind, but blood runs thick,” shed say. But Tom insisted Lily wasnt like them, that their love was stronger than any bad luck in her genes.
For a while, life was sweet. Alex and her husband even gifted them a flat in Manchester”Live happily, kids!” Lily had two girls, Sophie and Emma, and Tom adored them. He was proud, the man of his house.
Then, five years in, Lily started vanishing for hours. When she came home, Tom could smell the drink on her. At first, she wouldnt explain, then she just said it outrightshed never loved him, not really. Just a silly schoolgirl crush. Now shed met *him*, some bloke already married with three kids, and she was leaving. Just like that.
Tom was gutted. Lily ran off to some backwater village with her new man, abandoning the girls. Alex, sharp as a tack and twice as quick, took them in without a second thought. She and her husband spoiled them rotten.
Meanwhile, lost and desperate, Tom joined some dodgy cult on a mates advice. Before he knew it, theyd married him off to a widow with two sonsClaire, who made sure he had no time for Sophie and Emma. “Their mums still alive, isnt she?” shed snap. Tom obeyed, but he never stopped loving Lily, even if she was gone for good.
Seven years later, Lily turned up at Alexs door with a little girlMolly, about four. She looked rough. “Lifes done a number on you,” Alex said dryly. “Can we stay?” Lily asked, shifting on her feet. “Got kicked out, did you?” “No, I left. He hits me. Drinks nonstop.” Alex scoffed. “You picked him. Why not go to your own parents?” Lily sighed. “I missed the girls. Let me see them?”
When Sophie and Emma came home, they barely recognised her. No hugs, no tearsjust quiet resentment. Still, Alex let them stay. She wasnt heartless.
A month later, Lily vanished againback to her “sweet tormentor.” Molly stayed behind. Now Alex had three girls to raise.
Years flew. Alex passed, then her husband. Sophie married, but no kids. Emma stayed single, content with her own company. Molly had a baby at 17no one even knew who the father wasthen ran off to join Lily in the village.
Lilys man got sick, his daughters dragged him back to London, blaming her. “Shouldve kept your nose out,” they sneered. The village called her a shameless drunkyou know how small towns talk.
Tom? He left the cult, ditched Claire. Ended up alone in his mums old flat, living on tinned soup, with three cats for company.
And just like that… youth slipped away without a goodbye, and old age arrived without so much as a hello.
Happiness had knocked on their door once. They just didnt hear it.
