Terrible Things

Jack’s POV
As we made our way into the kitchen, I noticed the glares we were getting from my in-laws. I knew they hated me; they made it kinda obvious when they refused to give Leah away to me at our wedding.

“Hello, Mr and Mrs George,” I began politely, as I’d always treated them with the upmost respect, not that they deserved it. But it’s what Leah wanted; me and her parents to one day get along.

“Jack,” Mr George nodded at me briskly.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Leah’s mom almost exploded, her face going VERY red.
I just stood there utterly shocked.

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“She was our only fucking child, Barakat, and not only did you feel it was necessary to bring her over to this god damned country of yours, but when she gets here you kill her! If it wasn’t for your stupid fucking love, she’d still be alive, living with us in England happy as can be. If it wasn’t for you she’d still be alive.”

That cut deep, but it was completely unfair.

“Wait, what?!” Alex exclaimed from beside me.

“Lex, shut up.” I muttered to him.

“No Jack! I mean come on, this so unfair! He never, not even once asked Leah to move over here, he was prepared to make it work so she could stay with you! But she insisted on coming over here, she was the happiest we ever saw her when she was with Jack. But you two insisted on being stubborn and refusing to let her happiness shine through to you. Leah was like a little fucking sister to me, and if she had been miserable both me and Jack would’ve shoved her ass back on that fucking plane back to you. But she was happy. Don’t you dare tell us that if she hadn’t come here she’d still be alive, because guess what, it was a fucking accident. It was no-one’s fault, it was just fate. It was unfair yes, but it was NOT Jack’s fault.” Lex shouted at them. To be honest, it was nice to have him stand up for me, because they were making me feel shitty.

“I’m sorry Alexander, but I don’t believe this is your fucking conversation to have and I don’t believe we asked your opinion. And I wasn’t talking about her moving here being his fault, although it was. I was talking about the fact that he pulled the fucking plug.” Leah’s mom replied harshly.

That took me aback, and I wiped furiously at my eyes to make sure I wasn’t crying, before I spoke.

“You think I wanted to pull the fucking plug? You think that was easy for me? I loved Leah more than I can ever put into words, she was perfect and amazing, yet I had to make the hardest decision of my life in that hospital, whether she would live or die. No-one should ever have to make that decision and I blame myself whole heartedly for her dying but I do not regret that decision one bit.” I replied through gritted teeth, quietly but harshly.

“She had a chance to live Barakat, and you took that away from her.”

“She did live,” I threw my hands up exasperated, “did you not listen to Alex, she was so fucking happy here. And I had to take that away from her. She wouldn’t have had anything left worth living for; she would’ve been attached to life support for the rest of her life unable to live it to the full. I’d have spent my entire life looking after her due to my own selfishness, because she would have been in constant agony, physically and mentally. I would never have wanted to see anyone live like that, let alone the one person I love more than anything. She’s happier now, I just know it.”

Alex put his hand on my shoulder, and that was enough to calm me.

“Look, if you’re not here to offer anything for the funeral or to support your grandchildren then I need you to leave. This is a hard enough time for me and my family without you coming in and throwing the whole ‘this is your fault’ thing in my face. It was my decision and I wish I had never had to make that decision but I did, and I’m dealing with it. I have children that I need to think about here, and if your offhand comments are going to be made in front of them I don’t want you in my house anymore.” I said, running a hand through my hair and sighing.

Leah’s mom huffed and waltzed out, muttering something about “incompetent twat”, while her dad just looked in my eyes.

“I’m sorry Jack, I really am. When’s the funeral?” he spoke up.

“Friday morning, 10am.” I replied hesitantly.

“I’ll be there. Would you like me to make a speech?”

“If you want, just talk about Leah before we met because I’ve got loads of people talking about her since then. Keep it under 5 minutes.” I replied trying to keep my voice calm.

“Right...well I’ll do that.”

And with that he walked out and left.

As soon as I heard the front door slam, I threw my clenched up fist against the wall, relieving as much anger as I could. I was furious to say the least, and I was slowly losing my cool. I sighed and fell down onto the bar stool at the island, and just ran my hand through my hair continuously. This was too much for me; I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Her parents blamed me, and they had every fucking right. I’d been trying to convince myself otherwise but it had started to become clearer now.

I’d killed my wife. It was all my fault.