Cracked
A short story about painful goodbyes
“That’s it,” Alessandra said stepping on the emerald ring and breaking the beautiful glass stone, “we’re done.”
The elderly lady in black standing by the grave on Alessandra’s right stared at her with her mouth open and eyes widened. That wasn’t a normal sight in a cemetery. Normally people bring flowers and small souvenirs. They weep a bit and place their hands on the rough concrete enclosure that now houses their loved ones.
But not Alessandra. She didn’t care as she left the smashed ring behind her fiance’s grave. She was beyond mortified. She had witnessed the previous existence of the man who had promised her the world — just to tear it apart.
Growing up as a kid in the streets of East Harlem New York, Alessandra had to learn how to stand up for herself from an early age, fighting off bullies and thugs. Daughter of a family of immigrants from Mexico, she’d also become the first one to go to college, giving path to her sister to do the same.
Alessandra was the cherry pie of her father’s eye, who couldn’t be any prouder of his daughter’s path. She had finally become a social worker who helped the local community with housing and jobs.
A few years after she’d finished college, she met Rick Olivieri at one of her multiple social events. When…
