HVD Cheater

Should one comfort a cheater? Should their act of betrayal, and their ensuing remorse, be met with any degree of consolation? I would suppose that we all cheated, in act, in fantasy, but never is it so real that when the words leave us, through her lips, your fingers, lying there before on an LED screen, or dying ring in the air, between two now-once lovers. It is a confession which, when one admits of their own guilt, is like bobbing for soda cans on a cloudy day. The seconds after, the anticipation that awaits the sinking in, the contortion, the furrowed, distraught brow, we are submerged.

And then, the strike of the water. The words, questions, who and how, when and what.
"Who did you do it with?"
"How could you?"
"When did you do it?"
"What did you tell me you loved me for?"

You break from the pool, face a mass of hair, water and tears drenched, spilling from your face, soaking your cotton shirt and wool zip up you didn't bother to shed in your guilty desperation. Your mouth is empty – no soda cans or apples or diamonds big enough to choke on. You cough, sputter, cry in frustration at the impossible task of redemption to atone for the unspeakable atrocity you never saw yourself capable of committing.

You know you can never undo the past. Our memory chooses what to remember or forget, but we cannot command our memory. You cannot save the relationship, can't take back the stone you had to throw to redeem yourself, the same stone you threw to absolve your loved one. The stone that shattered their rib cage and punctured their heart just when was soft enough to trust you, soft like homemade pot pie, the steam and flavor of affection almost bursting the cross. And yet, you have to pass the saucer. You had to throw the stone, for you, and for them.

So You stare at the place where your loved once stood, and not where the knife rests in your bosom, as you wrapped your right hand over the handle and place your left on the tender wound. Count to three, hold your breath, it'll be better once you pull it out, once you forgive yourself.