Chapter 5
605 Words
Today was the day.
Morning came with a downpour.
I packed my last few clothes into a black suitcase. On the rug sat a stack of thick estate logs—five years of guest lists, social connections, and a few photos of us.
I ripped them up, tossed them into the fireplace, and struck a match.
Flames swallowed Arthur's face.
In the closet, the haute couture, the family jewels, even the half-used perfumes were exactly where they belonged. Whatever could be donated, I'd had the butler take away. The rest, I left behind.
The paper turned to ash. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out of the room I'd slept in for five years.
A black sedan idled under the porch. It was my ride to the city to swap my IDs.
I got in. "Let's go."
We rolled out of the gates. Rain hammered the roof.
I pulled out my phone, popped out the SIM card, and snapped it in half. I grabbed a flashlight from the glove box and smashed the screen.
The glass shattered into a spiderweb. The screen went black.
We hit a red light. I rolled down the window and chucked the broken phone and SIM card into a green dumpster.
Wind and rain whipped inside. I rolled the window up. Everything was severed.
Traffic choked the main road. The car crawled forward.
We crept past the Holy Cross Cathedral downtown.
The place where Arthur had sworn eternal loyalty to me before God five years ago.
I turned my head and looked out.
Through the rain, I saw Arthur.
He held a large black umbrella, letting the rain soak half his body to keep Chloe dry. He shielded her head with his other hand, helping her down the cathedral steps into a car. My husband's jacket was draped over her shoulders.
He shut the door. As he turned to walk around to the driver's side, he froze.
He saw me.
Our eyes locked through the deluge.
His face went white. He dropped the umbrella, completely abandoning cover, and sprinted toward my car like a madman, shoving people out of the way.
"Ma'am, I think that man is chasing us," the driver said, checking the mirror.
The traffic ahead cleared.
I rolled the window all the way up, shutting his desperate face out.
"Go."
The rain poured.
Arthur was stuck in the middle of the intersection, blocked by a wall of cars. He wiped the rain from his face. All he could see was a sea of red taillights. The black sedan was gone.
Blind panic seized him. Ignoring Chloe shouting his name from their car, he ripped open the door to his security detail's SUV. "Back to the estate! Now!"
The SUV tore down the road, tires screeching as they slammed the brakes at the porch.
Soaking wet, Arthur shoved the front doors open.
The butler stood in the hall, pale, holding a donation manifest. He rushed over.
"Sir..." Panic laced his voice. "The Madam is gone!"
Arthur didn't let him finish. He took the stairs two at a time and threw open the bedroom door.
Empty.
He rushed to the closet. My gowns, my heels, my jewelry—everything was still there.
But my black suitcase was gone.
He spun toward the fireplace.
Nothing remained but black ash. Near the edge lay an unburned corner of a photograph—his hand resting on my shoulder.
Arthur stared at the ashes, his chest rising and falling hard. Water dripped from his hair onto the carpet.
That’s when it finally hit him.
I’d erased every trace of myself.
I was gone.
- Writer
