Flash This Week 32 Don’t Hold Your Breath

He had been banging on the door to her mother’s apartment for what seemed like forever. It had been two weeks since she left him. He couldn’t take it anymore. Every day without her, his heart cracked open a little more. He couldn’t sleep, he refused to eat. He had spent the first week chasing relief at the bottom of a bottle. Twitch was getting worried about him. He didn’t care. All he wanted was to see her face again, to hold her in his arms and never let her go.
“Don’t hold your breath,” he turned towards the raspy voice of Marcy’s mother.
“What?” He asked, confused.
“You can bang on that door til the cows come home and that stubborn woman won’t answer it,” she replied.
“Why?” he asked defeated.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know why she’s so upset,” she scolded.
“It’s all a misunderstanding!” He bellowed.
“Don’t you yell at me, boy! This ain’t my doing! Give up now! No matter what you do she won’t talk to you. She’s stubborn. Move on with your life Tim. She doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore,” she scolded him and walked inside.

***
She shot Marcy a wry smile as she shut the door behind her. Marcy knew she had been caught the minute her mom started speaking outside the door. She just wanted to hear his voice just one more time.
“I still say you need to tell the boy,” her mom said knowingly.
The walls shook with the power of his fist on the other side of the door.
“I’m never giving up,” his voice thundered through the house and she nearly broke down into a sobbing mess on the floor.
She knew that. Tim would never give up on her if he found out. He would always want to be a part of her life. She couldn’t have that. She didn’t trust him. A clean break was what she needed. If she saw him again she might give in.
“I’m not telling him, Ma. He’s leaving for California soon and then I won’t ever have to see him again. He’ll never know,” she replied stubbornly.
“Selfish,” her mother muttered. “After the life he lost when he was just boy. tsk, tsk, tsk, If you take his family away from him he’ll never forgive you. You prepared to lose that man forever?”
She nodded. There was no other way. She couldn’t look at him without thinking of the blonde woman she had seen him with. She hardened her heart and looked to her meddling, crass, opinionated mother. Tim could never, ever find out about their baby. She would take the secret to the grave.