The Tortoise and the Hare

This is a short story of how a mentally unstable man reaches two breaking points and when he regains control feels the horror of his actions.

They told me seeing a turtle on your wedding day would bring good luck. Imagine my joy when I saw one on my wedding day. I was so nervous that day, my fiance was so beautiful in her dress. It was a traditional white wedding dress that fluffed out towards the bottom, but I had never seen a woman make a dress like that look as good as she did. Her golden hair flowing down from her head and onto her shoulders, the crisp blue of her eyes as they twinkled with excitement. I could barely stand as she walked down the aisle in slow sweeping steps. When she finally reached the altar, we exchanged vows and when the speaking was done, I leaned in for the kiss and she wrapped her arms around my neck and our lips connected, we lingered for a second the broke the kiss. Turning around we could see all of the people in the pews smiling and clapping and there were a few women crying, although I can’t remember exactly who was. The reception afterwards was amazing, we danced for hours and by the end of the night almost everyone was exhausted and was to a degree intoxicated. We went back to the apartment where we had been living together for the past few months and went to sleep. The next morning we woke up a newly wed couple. We couldn’t linger too long in our home because we had a flight to catch, we were honeymooning in fiji. We didn’t leave the hotel room for the first two days of our honeymoon. The third day we went out and walked on the beaches, enjoyed the sun. Our honeymoon ended sooner than we would’ve liked but we both had jobs and lives to get back to.

When we arrived home we did the usual unpacking and a little cleaning up since we had left in such a hurry. Even the day to day routines were magical when she was around. I would get up in the morning and make some waffles, which was her favourite. And then I’d turn the T.V to the news and when we had finished eating I’d get ready to go to work. I’d kiss her goodbye and tell her I loved her then I left for a day in the office. It was long and tedious work but it was good pay and coming home to my wife made it all okay.After a year of marriage my wife became pregnant with our daughter. After nine months she was born. We were able to take her home soon after and when we arrived there we decided our apartment had become too small for a family. We decided a full house would be needed to properly care for our lovely little baby.

Not soon after we started searching we got into our first fight. It’s amazing we didn’t have one sooner but this was our first. It was basically over what kind of home we wanted. She wanted this huge house with a huge yard, but the only way we would get a house like that was to make my commute over an hour. I wanted a house closer to my work, the homes in the area were decent sized with a smallish backyard. We eventually compromised and settled in a medium sized home with a good yard that required me to have a 30 minute commute. It wasn’t all bad, I mean a little more gas than I was used to but other than that it was a good setup.

We were happy for 5 years. We raised our beautiful little girl with the utmost love. Soon a tragedy hit us. Me and my wife had left our daughter with her grandmother while we went to dinner, As we were driving down the street a car came speeding out of an alleyway and smashed into the side of our car. It hit on my wife’s side, I can’t remember much because I was disorientated, there was a loud ringing in my ears and everything was blurry. I remember my wife laying there with blood flowing out of her beautiful blonde hair. I remember sirens and flashing lights before I blacked out.

When I next woke I was laying in a trauma room with doctors around me saying things that I didn’t understand. I started flailing my arms to get away because I had no clue what was going on. I kept asking where my wife was before they sedated me. The next time I woke up I was laying in a hospital bed with a doctor at the end of the bed writing something down in a binder. My first question was “Where’s my wife?” He didn’t immediately answer me, he firstly told me that I had been in an accident. That I had sustained moderate injuries, a broken rib, a broken nose, and a lot of bruises. Then he told me about my wife. She had more severe injuries than I. She had a bad concussion, quite a few broken ribs, a broken leg and dislocated shoulder. She also had a deep gash in her side where the door had warped due to the impact. I had felt my heart drop and I tried to get up, I started to tear off the cords and I went to rip out the I.V but the doctor grabbed my wrist and shoulder and kept me from moving. I fought with him a little and kept saying that I needed to get to my wife. He pushed me back down and another doctor rushed in and injected a sedative into my I.V and I blacked out again.

It wasn’t until the next day that I woke up again. By then the aches had set in and I was in a little pain, the painkillers helped me a lot. A nurse came in and checked my I.V and after a bit the doctor came in again. He asked how I was doing and I told him I was okay. I asked how my wife was doing and he hesitated then told me she was still unconscious and in the ICU. She was stable though and they were just waiting for her to wake up. I laid my head back and sighed. It was easier to accept that the accident had happened and that she hasn’t woke up because she was alive and stable.

After a week in the hospital I was aloud to go home. Getting into a car was hard. But I kept thinking about my daughter and how she needed her dad. I was able to get into the taxi and go to my mother in laws house. When I finally got there my daughter came running outside and jumped into my arms, I immediately felt a jolt of pain and I winced, but I did not push away my daughter. I held her and dealt with my pain. I decided then that no matter what happens she would be my reason to not feel pain.

The next day I got a rental car to use before my car was out of the shop. I used that rental car to drive down to the hospital to see my wife. When I walked into the room I felt sick. My wife had tubes in her throat and wires running from her chest. I was told that it was all just to keep her stable but that didn’t help. I still felt sick and weak sitting by her bed. I sat there just thinking and reliving those few moments of the crash I experienced. After a couple hours of this I had to leave and take care of my daughter. She kept asking for her mother but neither me or her grandmother had the heart to tell a five year old her mom was laying in a hospital bed unconscious.

Later that week I got a phone call from the hospital, when I first saw the number I felt a dread come over me, saying something bad had happened. But the voice on the other end told me how she had woken up and was asking for me. I jumped in my car as quickly as possible and drove down to the hospital. I rushed into her room and paused in the doorway. There was my wife sitting up and okay. The tubes were gone and there were less wires. She looked at me and smiled and I breathed a sigh of relief. I had been so worried and here she was, fine. The doctor told me that she’d be able to go home tomorrow.

When tomorrow came I walked her out of the hospital doors and to the rental car. I opened her door, but she hesitated and looked at me with fear in her eyes.

“The last time I got in a car I nearly died. I don’t think I can do that again.”

I tried to reassure her but that didn’t work. I then told her how her daughter had been asking for her. Crying out for her mother. That she needed to get into the car so that she could go see her daughter. She looked at me with a mix of anger, fear, and realization. She was mad at me for using our daughter against her but it had to be done. She got into the car and we drove to her mother’s house. When we arrived my wife opened the door with a shaky hand and let out a heavy sigh. Our little girl came rushing out the door and into my wifes arms. My wife was almost crying with the joy of seeing her daughter. She stroked her hair and hugged her and when she finally let go she stood and hugged her mother. Those three had a mini reunion. An amazing and beautiful one.

We stayed at my mother in laws house for a few hours before we decided it was time to leave. We walked down the pathway and our daughter got into the back seat while I walked around and opened the driver's side door. My wife paused after opening the door and looked up in a little fear. I looked at her reassuringly and she got in. I started the car and we drove away. I looked over and my wife was shaking as she held the door handle as tightly as she could. When we finally got home she once again stepped out of the car shakily. Our daughter lept out of the car and ran up to the door. I grabbed my wife's arm to steady her and we walked into our home. As a family.

Soon after I returned to work and began to felt out financial crisis. Most of our savings had to be used for the car and for medical bills. We started to struggle a little with money so I started to work extra hours. So I stayed longer and got home later. For the first few months this was fine with my wife but it began to take it’s toll. I started to sleep less and work more. I was more lethargic when I got home after a long day. My wife started to get unhappy with that.

We started to fight more and I started to use work as an excuse to get out of that house. My wife didn’t understand that I didn’t start working to get away from her and and my daughter. I started working more so that I could pay for everything. So that they could be more comfortable. I hated it but it had to be done. One day I arrived home and my wife immediately started to yell at me for being at work so long. I couldn’t take being nice anymore. I yelled back. I yelled about how I did it so that her and our daughter would be comfortable, so that could have what they wanted. Then she yelled at me for blaming all of this on them. Blaming them for working so long. As if I wanted to work but I needed an excuse to. That was one of the worst fights we had.

The next day we were still fuming. We didn’t talk much and I left for work. Later into the day I started to feel bad so I asked my supervisor if I could go early today, which he let me since I was such a hard worker. So on my way home I stopped for a bunch of flowers for my wife and continued to drive home. When I arrived I quietly unlocked the door and walked in, The first thing I heard was thumping coming from up stairs. My heart started to race, I had a clue what was happening but I didn’t want to believe it. I walked to our bedroom door and pushed it open. There was my wife in bed with another man. She screamed and started saying my name apologetically. I dropped the flowers and turned around and started to walk away. She yelled my name and kept telling me to come back and how sorry she was. I walked right out the front door and drove to the bar that I had seen by my work. I had never been much of a drinker but that was different now,

I walked in and sat. I ordered drink after drink, downing them again and again. The bartender asked what happened that made me want to drink so much, I told him and that bought me a couple drinks on the house. Several shots of whiskey and two glasses of bourbon later he told me I should go somewhere and sleep this off. I got into my car even though I knew it was a bad idea, and started to drive. I ran a red light and almost smashed into someone on the way to the hotel I planned to stay at, but I didn’t hit anyone.

The next day I woke up with a terrible headache and I felt ill so I called in sick and laid in bed with the curtains closed for most the day. I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept replaying that moment over and over. Getting more angry and depressed. The next morning I went to work groggy with bloodshot eyes. My supervisor asked if I was alright and that my wife had called to see if I was there. I told him what had happened and he offered me a few days off to get myself together, which I took. I decided to walk a longer way to the parking garage to clear my head a little. While in the alley behind the garage I saw a women that looked like my wife. And all my anger and hatred boiled over.

I picked up a large rock and smashed it over her head. I felt so powerful, holding another human's life in my hands. I kept hitting her and hitting her. It felt good. Then the high wore off and I felt exhausted and then terrified. I had just killed another human being. Just for looking like someone. I opened the door that led into the garage and looked to see if anyone was around. Seeing there was no one I grabbed her lifeless body and stuffed her into my drunk along with the rock. I then climbed into my car and started to drive to the outskirts of town where I could think.

I drove to an old factory that I had seen a while back. I stepped out of my car and fell to my knees. I started to hyperventilate slightly but regained my control. I opened my trunk and grabbed her body and dragged it into the factory and left it inside. I then went back to my car and grabbed my suit jacket from the back seat and put it over my shirt so no one would see the blood. I cleaned all the splatter off my face and got back into my car and drove back to my hotel. There I rushed into my room. I tore the bloodied clothing off and threw up into the toilet. I then showered, scrubbing and scrubbing, the blood was long gone but I couldn’t stop. I was eventually able to stop.

When I got out I nearly fell over because how weak I felt. I dropped onto my bed and fell asleep. The next morning I woke numb. I walked over to where I had thrown the bloodied clothing and stuffed it into a sack. I put on clean clothes and walked out to my car. I put the sack into the backseat and started to drive to a dumpster that was a little ways away from where I worked and lived. I threw away the clothes and drove back to my hotel room where I spent the rest of the day feeling numb.

When evening came I turned on the T.V and started to watch the news. There, was a picture of the girl. It said she was missing and started to give details of who she was. I felt sicker and even worse the more I knew, I puked twice that night and couldn’t sleep.

It went on another couple of weeks. This deep feeling of regret and remorse. I just couldn’t believe I had killed an innocent girl. I began to drink more and started to do poorer at work. I had to move out of the hotel and into a cheap motel. I finally answered a call from my wife, who told me she wanted to get a divorce. In the background I could hear a man talking and my daughter laughing. I told her fine to try and get off the phone so I didn’t have to listen to that man making my little girl laugh anymore. I collapsed into the motel bed afterwards. I couldn’t handle it.

After five month of negotiations and compromises and loss it was finally done. I only got to see my daughter two weekends a month and my wife got the house and most of the money in our savings account that I had earned. I still had nightmares of that girl who I had killed and they kept me awake. I drank more than ever and I was just barely still working at my company. At one point my supervisor was able to get me to stop drinking as much and come to work sober. But at the motel I drank in excess.

I got a DUI once, then I stopped driving drunk because if I kept getting them I could lose my daughter. After time my daughter grew to be 13, and my situation had stabilized. I lived in an apartment now and I had almost stopped drinking. The night terrors still plagued me and I still despised my ex wife and her boyfriend, something O’Hare. The man she cheated on me with. My daughter called him dad and me by my name and you have no idea how much that hurts. That one phone call destroyed me and pushed me over the edge.

My ex wife called me and told me that my daughter didn’t want to see me anymore. My heart dropped and I screamed into the phone. Screamed at my ex wife blaming her for my daughter not wanting to see me. I hung up and threw my phone at the wall shattering it. I then began to plot my revenge against my wife. The ultimate revenge.

A month later I put on a suit. Grabbed my briefcase, and entered my car. I drove down to my ex wife’s home and stopped at the curb. It was dark out when I opened my case. I picked up a 9mm Beretta and put it into my pocket and walked up to the door. I knocked three times and O’Hare answered it.

“What are you doing here, she doesn’t want to see you remember.” I smiled at him and pulled the gun out of my pocket. He jumped back and yelled to my ex to call the cops. I fired one shot and it tore through his chest. I felt the high of killing again. But this time I didn’t feel any remorse. He crumpled to the ground and I took a step into the home. I saw my ex stunned with the phone in hand. I yelled at her to hang it up and it looked like she did, but I found out later she hadn’t. She set it on the counter and asked why I was doing this.

“Because you took my life. My house, my money, and above all my daughter. Just because you couldn’t handle me making money for you.” Is what I said at first. She was speechless. I don’t think she had realized the impact this event had on me before. Maybe she did and the gun staring at her caught her tongue. We’ll never know since I pulled the trigger. Again and again. The first four bullets hit her and caused her to fall backwards and down. The eleven others were just because I wanted to. It felt good. When the gun was empty I dropped it and stared at my wife and O’Hare. The blood coming from their bodies. I felt sick again. I started breathing heavily and a let out a little cry. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my daughter look through the doorway of her bedroom. I saw the horror in her eyes.

That moment I wish I had saved a bullet for myself. So that I could get away from all of this and so that I could go to hell and get what I deserve. The sirens and flashing lights were so quiet and faint. I was so numb. The cops walked into the house slowly with guns drawn. I didn’t move. One grabbed me and threw me to the ground where he stuck his knee between my shoulder blades and put handcuffs on me.

I was taken to a processing center then sent to a prison where I was to be held without bail. Weeks later I was given a trial. My lawyers claimed I was insane and asked for a lesser sentence. I was convicted for two counts of first degree murder, and home invasion. I was given life in prison without parole since I was classified as mentally unstable. They still don’t know about that poor girl I killed. I guess now they will since I wrote about it. Do I regret killing anyone? Yes I do. Would I change it? Yes. But I can’t so I live with this.

So now you know my story as to why I’m serving life in prison without parole all because of that damned O’Hare.