prelude

his beginning- Teddy POV

A piercing scream came from the kitchen, “help me!” Teddy groaned and rose from the couch, where he had been engrossed in a video game. He ambled into the kitchen, where he saw his wife sitting in a pool of blood.

“what happened?” he asked as he tried to help her sit up.

She moaned.

“are you having a miscarriage,” he observed, knowing she was pregnant because he had found the positive pregnancy test shoved to the bottom of the trash when he had emptied it earlier last week. He knew the child wasn’t his. They hadn’t been intimate in months, she was always too tired or out with her friends.

She looked up from the blood on her hands to his face. She started to cry. In between her sobs she said, “I’m so sorry... I was going to tell you. I wanted to make sure this time took, but its too late now I guess.”

He holds her face cupped in his large hands and looks deep into her dark brown eyes, “how far did you make it this time?” Her mind raced trying to remember when it was that they had intercourse last. She slowly replied, “almost 12 weeks almost,” she lied, it was closer to 8 weeks just like the last one. She hesitated, searching his ocean blue eyes for comfort.

He pulled her close and embraced her. “Did you want to go to the ER now or wait to call the doctor’s office in the morning?” She pondered his question and her response, for if she still had the fetus inside her body, they could still determine how far along she truly was. “let’s wait till the morning. I’m just going to shower and go to bed.”

He lifts her from the floor and helps her to the stairs, “are you sure you are ok?” she looks back as she climbs the first few stairs

“Yes, I just want to be alone for a bit.” She turns back around and goes around the corner up the rest of the stairs. He looks down at his hands and sees a smudge of blood, he turns back around and walks to the kitchen. He examines the pool of blood and the dark matter for any tissue… nothing. He proceeds to grab a roll of paper towels and cleans up the floor. He can hear a muffled voice coming from their room directly above him. He wonders if she is talking to her boss.

He remembers the day he had found out she was cheating on him. She had accidently left her phone on the kitchen table. It was open to the message log between the two. “Yesterday was great! He still has no idea. Of course, it’s easy with him working long hours,” her comment read. The reply was even worse, “which hotel did we want to meet up next time? I can’t wait to get you out of your clothes!”

How hot did his blood boil as he read their conversation going back and forth? It was even more damaging the further back he read till he couldn’t read any more. It had been going on for over a year at that point. She even went as far as telling her boss when she had found out that she was pregnant with his child.

At one point he laughed at her boss’s reply because he refused to leave his sickly wife and run away together. He insisted that they wait to be together till after she had the child and then they would be together as a family. That never came to pass as she had miscarried three weeks later. A slight smile crossed his lips as he thanked Karma for all her help.

Happily, he played the grieving father to keep up the façade till he was ready to strike her down. He wanted to ruin her, hurt her to the core, it was only fitting as she had already done this to him. He wanted her to feel the burn of betrayal she had inflicted upon him. His mother was right as she had been so many times before, he should have dated more, instead he married right out of high school. He thought she was the One. That they were soulmates. Boy was he wrong!

He finished wiping the floor clean when he heard movement in the room above him, he went to the stairs and crept up the first set to hear what was going on. She had the shower on so all he could make out was a muffled voice. At one point her voice was loud enough to hear who she was talking to and the subject matter.

She was on the phone with her boss. It sounded like he was ending things between them since she was unable to carry a child. Her voice got loud as she ended the call. There was a deafening silence in the house at that moment, it was like they were both holding their breaths to see if the other person had heard them. There was that creak again, she was finally getting into the shower.

He descended the stairs and went back to his chair in the corner. He picked up the game controller and hit the start button as a large smile grew across his face. A loud knock at the front door shook him from his deep contemplation of the night’s events. He rose from his chair and swiftly made his way to the door, hoping that she didn’t hear the commotion.

He opened the door to see a woman holding out a set of keys. “I found these by the mailboxes and noticed that you had a Ford truck and there was a Ford key on the chain, so I thought they might be yours,” she explained. He had never seen her before when he took his runs around the neighborhood, so he wondered where she lived. It was chilly outside, and she had a thin jacket on, so she had to live close by. The wind teased her brown hair, pulling it to her face, her fingers were small and dainty as they brushed the wisp of hair from her eyes.

He found himself staring and studying her from head to toe. Her eyes were golden brown like Carmel being stirred into hot coca. Her hair was dark like a moonless night, with silver streaks hiding in the darkness. Her skin was as smooth as the moon’s reflection on a body of water. Her gaze was as deep as a black hole pulling him into her.

He shook his head to regain his composure and replied, “no, I have my keys here,” as he motions to the bowel sitting on an entry table near the door. She was saying something else, but he got lost in her eyes again, his gaze slowly moved down her figure. Her hand moved to her lips, moving another wisp of hair from her face.

She turned around and thanked him for his time. He turned around to see if his wife was in the room, it was still empty and quiet. His attention returned to the strange woman only to find that she had disappeared. He stepped out onto the porch so he could have a better view of both sides of the sidewalk, empty again. Where had she gone? It’s like she had vanished into thin air. He walked back inside and saw his wife standing at the foot of the stairs, “who was at the door,” she asked.

“Some kids playing a prank,” he lied, but at this point did he really care if it was the truth or not, sadly, no. His heart pounded as he recalled the strange interaction, why am I feeling like this? His brain muddled in thought. His eyes searched for clarity on the matter, but only found the clock on the wall, it read 9:34pm. He had an early morning the next day, so he turned off all the electronics and lights in the house. He slowly made his way up the stairs. He lingered in the hallway of their bedroom to see if she was still awake. A deep low gurgle came from the bedroom, he exhaled, she was asleep. He entered the room and slipped into bed. Sleep came quickly to him that night and dreams, dreams of the strange brunette woman at his door.