“I thought you packed enough for the both of us!”, she presented her frustration with a tone all too familiar to him. “Every, single, time you forget something important and this time I clearly remember telling you to bring it, and yet you didn’t!”. “You never listen to me!”. She never fails to add that last drop of venom to every argument, he thought to himself.
“We were in a bit of a hurry yesterday, yes and, I..I should have listened to you. But we can’t go all the way back just to get some biscuits! Plus it’s only for two days, we’ll survive, I think”. His optimism was met with dead silence coated in a layer of disappointment from his partner. She felt drained from having the same conversation over and over again.
“Last week it was the dishes, the month before it was the the…damn it, I can’t even remember. I just wanted today to be our getaway. Eh, fine it’s only biscuits”. She slowly walked towards the campfire he was struggling to set up.
“Do you need a hand?”.
Silence.
“Okay. Listen, I’m sorry about the biscuits. Let’s just enjoy this night, yes. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like this”.
“But you always yell at me like this!” He barked back, frustrated just as the tinder was catching heat. “I was looking forward to this, but your pack of TimTams were clearly more important”.
“Hold on, this is me apologising to you and here you are, getting back at me?”
Their bickering had only just started and unfortunately for their sleepy forest neighbours, things were not looking to quiet down. With the way things were going between the two, they definitely didn’t need more fuel to feed the fire…
Things were getting heated no doubt, but it was also getting cold. Much colder than usual, so much so that it stopped both the hotheads from their passionate exchanges.
“Do you feel that?”.
“Huh uh. It’s only 15 but it feels like it’s snowing”.
Without a moment to react, a translucent fog-like creature leapt out with a curdling scream. She went out to get the nearest torch to ward off the foglet. He looked to reason with it.
“I understand that you want to kill us, but please, spare her, take me instead”. The fog monster suddenly stopped looking rather confused for an apparent killer with murderous intent.
“Kill you? Hahaha. Pffft. I wouldn’t even hurt a fly. In fact I literally can’t!”
He gently reached out to it, but all he could feel was a cold mist.
“Are you a a… ghost then?”.
“Ghost? Nah, I like to think I’m a free thinking spirit”.
“They mean the same thing, you idiot”, a second foglet came towards the girl, almost as if she was trying to smell her perfume. “I think the scream was a bit too much for them, they seem spooked! Look, dearies, we don’t mean you any harm. We just wanted to scare you”.
“Why?”, demanded the girl who lowered her newly lit torch.
“Eh, ‘cause we are bloody bored. But first, where are my manners, my name is Mark and my beautiful partner in crime of 60 years is Belinda. That fire you set up there is pretty dangerous for us both, but nothing stops us from enjoying good company, eh?”.
An unexpected gathering, the couple thought to themselves. She broke the ice first, “I didn’t know ghosts were real and that they were so… friendly”.
“Oh but you look lovely too!”. Belinda exclaimed. “I used to look as pretty as you back in the day. Your husband looks dashing as well. If only I wasn’t a ghost, heehee”.
“We aren’t married, atleast not yet”, he corrected Belinda.
Mark looked at the couple, who were still distraught from their verbal bout which woke him up. “But why were you arguing like us right after our marriage”. Mark was genuinely curious about why biscuits were central to their argument.
“It wasn’t just about biscuits actually”, she said quietly, quickly dismissing their concerns. They were more curious about the ethereal couple who were guilty of having a good time.
“Do you usually scare campers, or were we just lucky today? The ghosts we usually read and watch about come to places that are close to them. Is this area special to you?”.
“We used to come to the same area to catch fireflies, every other week”. Belinda loved hanging them in our homes. After we passed, It only made sense to come back here”. Mark looked towards Belinda, who always knew the right things to say.
“We’ve all been there dearies, arguments about the smallest things. But in the end, you need someone to go watch the fireflies with. That’s what makes it all worth it, knowing that your Mark is right there with you”.
The couple looked at each other, regretting their previous bickerings. She held his hand, knowing that her love for him will always be more important than some TimTams.
“I’m sorry for raising my voice earlier”, he apologised.
“Shhhh…it’s okay”.
The dark forest, once only lit up by a raging campfire, was now also accompanied by thousand shimmering lights.
”Look! Fireflies!”.
It didn’t seem so cold anymore.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We all go through rough patches in our relationships. Sometimes, when we constantly feel unheard, we unknowingly slip into a habit of playing the blame game. We tend to blame our partners for every little thing. This is usually because there are a few unaddressed issues that have gone out of focus. It’s quite easy to forget in these moments why you started dating them, what made you fall in love with them and why your partner matters to you. But, it’s important to take a moment to think about why certain words like “you never listen to me”, “it’s always your fault”, “this feels so different from when we first started dating” “you have changed” “I can’t do this anymore” are being said. The words, “always” and “Never” are probably coming from multiple instances of disappointment. Communicating clearly and understanding where your partner is coming from is more important than getting back at each other even though the latter may feel more satisfying. Next time you have an argument along these lines, try to calm down and just ask “why do you feel this way?”
Lots of love,
The Dots
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