Whether they personally knew him or not, everyone in his small town knew the name Gael Ryder. It was often carried across town on the hushed whispers of the townspeople.
“I ran into Gael at the market yesterday. I wish he’d just leave this town behind and take his memory with him.”
“I reckon he walks around here just to get a rise from us.”
“A fine job he does of it too.”
Most everyone in town spread the rumors about Gael as if they were facts. Even years after the incident, the townspeople remembered what he’d done. Gael had a mental condition, known as bipolar disorder. To over simplify things, he experienced a roller coaster of emotions, often going from elation to severe depression in a moment’s time. Sometimes, out of nowhere, depression wrapped its cold grip around him for no reason at all. Other times, Gael would find humor in horrid situations and he couldn’t help himself. That time in middle school when Susana Wintles was crying in the cafeteria because her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, for instance. Gael understood the significance of the situation. However, a stray bit of hair sticking up from another girl’s ponytail threw him into a fit of laughter. Empathy, in that moment, was lost to him.
Gael had a tendency to make enemies because of his “unusual” personality. He bottled everything up for years, wondering what was wrong with him and never speaking of it. Left undiagnosed, the illness left him mentally exhausted. One day, left alone with his thoughts and feeling broken beyond repair, he decided the world would be better off without his presence. His mother, and only living relative, was out to work that day. He sat on the sofa looking at the lighter in his hand for a time. On – off – on – off... He flicked it over and over. On – off – on… “Everyone will be better off when I’m gone.” Off – on – off… “I can’t screw anything up if I’m not here anymore.” On – off… He wasn’t happy or sad or angry. He was just there. On…
He sat on the couch and watched as the flames overtook the house. When the firemen arrived, his consciousness had faded. Barely breathing, Gael opened his eyes just enough to see the face of a man making the ultimate sacrifice. He felt the respirator slide over his face as his world went black. The fire fighter never made it home that day, but thanks to his bravery, Gael did.
Melony was the only one in town that didn’t blame Gael for the fire fighter’s death. Her mother begged her to stay away from him. Her father forbade it. She didn’t listen to either of them, of course. She saw something in Gael that no one else did. She didn’t see the damaged, screw up that everyone else did. She saw a man who knew the smallest things about her without asking, a man whose touch lifted the weight right off her shoulders on a difficult day. She saw a man who, among so much more, had the kindest, most misunderstood heart she had ever seen. She saw a man who struggled to show affection but loved deeper than anyone else she knew. She alone saw the selflessness in the actions he took in his darkest hour. She understood that he wasn’t trying to numb his own pain or take the easy way out like so many others had said. She saw that he believed he was a burden to the world and he didn’t want to be.
Gael pleaded with her to keep their relationship a secret so the town didn’t turn against her too. For a long time, she did but one day she grew tired of hiding the happiest part of her life. She wanted a husband and children, maybe even grandchildren someday. She wanted all those things with Gael and that wasn’t going to happen if their relationship remained in the dark. She confessed her love for Gael to her parents, then her best friend. Before long the entire town knew she was in love with Gael. Nobody supported her at first. Some were even convinced that Gael had somehow tricked her into it. Eventually though, she was able to convince a fair majority that Gael deserved a second chance. The day they married, most of the town showed up, many of whom didn’t truly understand Gael until that day.
The pastor said, “We will now allow the bride and groom to exchange their vows. Gael, you’re up first.” Gael stared around the small church, before he began.
“Melony, I want you to know that you saved me. You lifted me up when others tore me down. When there were dozens of reasons to hate me, you found the smallest reasons to love me. You, Melony. The reason I’m here today is because of you. You gave me the second chance I never deserved but wouldn’t trade for world. I promise to be the best version of myself that I can possibly be for you, because you deserve that and more.” The pastor nodded slightly towards Melony. Melony smiled at Gael softly.
“Gael, I promise to love you for the rest of my days. I promise to stand by your side when you need me and to step away when you don’t. I promise that I will understand when depression pulls you in and I’ll be there to help you when you’re ready to fight. I promise to remember how much you love me in those moments when you think you don’t. I promise that no matter how much I want to fix everything for you, I’ll remember that I can’t. I will love you even when you can’t love yourself. Most importantly, in the brief moments when you’re in the dark, I’ll be your light, because every other moment you are mine.”
“Gael, you man now kiss your bride!”
Author’s note
I really hope this story wasn’t too confusing but I really wanted to write about something important with this one. There is such a stigma surrounding mental illness and I’m always looking for ways to bring light to this very serious issue. I based my story on “
The Bear-Woman” because I really loved the story. The woman in the original is in love with a bear and wants to marry him. When her family finds out, they kill the bear. Then she ends up turning into a bear and killing several people in her village. I wanted to change the ending and make it more about hope and opportunity for change. I wanted to write the love interest to be someone with some sort of ailment that would make him undesirable, yet that one special person would still want him. Mental illness, bipolar disorder specifically, is something very personal to me. Someone very close to me has been diagnosed as bipolar with schizophrenic tendencies, along with having some other health problems. Most people don’t understand the severity of this disease (or any mental disorder really) unless they have personal experience with it. So, I wanted to shine a little light on how things can be for someone with this disorder and the ones they love. Then I wanted to show that having bipolar doesn’t make you a bad person or an unlovable person. It just means that sometimes love has to be shown in a different way when someone with a mental ailment is involved. The most important piece of this story for me was the wedding vows, specifically Melony’s. Go back and read them again… Through this character I hope to tell just a small portion of what a spouse or loved one must learn in order to help someone with bipolar or another mental disorder.
PS
I'm sick and really not very clear headed right now... So I hope this one isn't too terrible to read. I want to come back to it later this week and revise it but for now... I wanted to get the assignment submitted on time. ;)
Source
"Native American Marriage Tales", by Stith Thompson,
online source
