I'm Gone

PLEASE READ!!! I've spent a month trying to get this right, because I've never been in this type of situation. It's a bit longer than what I usually write, but I was trying something new.

7 years ago

I smiled and looked at my picture of him.  God, he was gorgeous.  My fiancé.  My Josh.  In less than an hour, he would be my husband.  I couldn’t believe it!  I was so happy.

All of our friends and family were there, including his sisters.  They had an almost . . . apprehensive, knowing look.  Why?  Shouldn’t they be so happy for their brother?  He was twenty-nine, and I was twenty.  That wasn’t so bad.  And we were in love.  Why did they look so sad?

It didn’t matter.  This was my day, and they weren’t going to ruin it.  I looked around for my Maid of Honor, my best friend Kari.  I turned to my sister Susan, “Where’s Kari?  I don’t want her to be late to the ceremony.”

“I don’t know.  She said she was going to the bathroom.”  Susan looked worried, but it was only for a moment.  She smiled at me and said, “Everything’s going to be fine, Myra.  Nothing’s going to go wrong.”

“How can you know that?”  It was an argument we had started when we were little.  She always told me that nothing was going to go wrong, and I always asked her how she could know that.  I didn’t think anyone could.

Fifteen minutes until the ceremony and Kari was still unaccounted for.  Ten minutes.  Five.  I was starting to worry and pacing, and my other bride’s maids told me to sit down, I’d rip my gown.  But I couldn’t help it.  Finally she showed up, and I snapped, “Where were you?  We were worried about you.”

She smiled sheepishly and said with her Southern accent, “I had to fix my hair.”  She tossed her bright red locks.  “They’re fine now, though.”

“Why would it get messed up in the first place?” I laughed.  No matter what, I could never stay mad at her.

“I don’t know, but it did,” she shrugged, fixing her bright pink lipstick.  “How do I look?”  She posed, and we all laughed.

“You look great, Kari,” I smiled.

“Not as great as you, Little Miss Bride,” she giggled.  “Now come on.  We gotta get you hitched.”

The next few minutes were all just a blur.  The only thing I remember was saying our vows to the priest, my man and I, and something else.  He looked bad.  No, not ugly, just . . . not as clean cut as he normally was.  His tie was off, and he needed to comb his hair.  Oh well.  Nothing could be perfect.

And what was that pink stuff on the corner of his mouth?

6 years ago

I set the casserole on the table and smiled.  “Perfect,” I said to myself, smiling.  “Exactly what he likes.”  I looked at the clock.  It was past ten thirty.  “Now all he has to do is come home.”

It almost midnight when I heard the key in the door.  I had fallen asleep watching TV, but I woke up quickly when he walked in.  I smiled up at my wonderful husband.  “Dinner’s ready,” I said cheerfully.

He smiled back.  “I’m sure I would have loved it, but I had dinner a couple of hours ago.”

I pouted.  “You had dinner without me?  I told you I was making your favorite casserole tonight.”

Suddenly Josh got angry.  He glared at me and yelled, “Why do I have to eat dinner with you every night of the year?  I’m a free man, you know.  I don’t have to listen to what any woman says.”

I was shocked and scared.  Josh, yelling at me like that?  What happened to the husband I had known and loved?  But I didn’t say that.  I knew better.  “I’m sorry.  I’ll just heat some up for myself, then.”

He seemed to realize that what he said hurt me, because he said, “I’ll have some as well, please.  It still smells marvelous in here.”

I smiled, seeing my husband back in front of me again.  I smoothed his hair, laughing, “How do you always mess up your hair?  And what were you doing until so late?”

“I was working until late.  I had to finish some files before leaving.  And I have to get to my car, don’t I?” he pointed out.

It wasn’t until later that I remembered that all of the workers, janitors included, were kicked out by security at eleven or they were locked inside, and his parking spot was in the basement lot.

That’s when I realized that something wasn’t really right.

5 years ago

I tapped my fingers on the glass table.  Where was Josh?  Where was my husband?  He was never this late.  Well, sometimes he was, but an hour and a half late was absolutely ridiculous.  He would freak out at me, call me nonstop, and make sure that he would not be ignored.  Not me, though.  I didn’t believe that it was necessary.  He would come when he was ready.

The waitress at the cafe asked, “Would you like a bill, or would you like to wait a little longer?”

“I’ll wait.  He must be busy with something,” I insisted.

As she turned away, she muttered, “Or someone.”  I didn’t understand what she meant by that.  I was foolish, only twenty-three, and I had been home-schooled for all of my elementary and high school years, and half of my college years.  No, I know that not all home-schooled kids are that sheltered, but believe me, I was.

Then I saw his car pull up.  It was a block ahead, and I could just barely make out the plate number, even with my great eye-sight.  I don’t know why he parked there.  There were plenty of spaces right in front of the cafe.

He got out of the driver’s side, and I was expecting to come walking over here right away, but he walked to the passenger’s side and opened the door.  I couldn’t see who it was, but I saw red hair blowing in the wind.  I only knew one person with red hair.  What was Kari doing in Josh’s car?

They parted ways there, and in a few minutes my husband was sitting across from me, looking at the menu, wondering out loud what he was going to get.

“What took you so long?” I asked quietly.

He shrugged.  “There was a meeting I forgot to tell you about.  I’m sorry I kept you waiting so long.

It was Saturday.  They never had meetings on Saturday.

3 years ago

I looked at my husband across the room.  He was sitting on the couch, watching baseball one Saturday night, and I was sitting in the corner of the room, in the armchair, reading Pride and Prejudice for the thousandth time.  Josh knew I hated baseball, especially on date night.  We had set up a schedule so that we went on a date twice a month, every other Saturday, so we would at least get a chance to talk.  We lived together, and we never talked.  Josh said that was normal.  What’s normal about that?

For a while, it was going good.  We went to a different restaurant each time, and had fun.  Then he got busier with work, and we only were able to get out once a month.  Then every other month.  And then never.  That’s how, one Saturday night, the Saturday we were supposed to be going out on, he was watching the Yankees slaughter the Twins, and I was sitting reading a book.

“Do you want to do something tonight?” I asked him.

“Sh, I want to watch the game,” he said in a monotone voice.  I sighed.  He knew what was going to happen anyway, so what was the point?

I decided that it was pointless to stay in the family room anymore, trying to talk to him, so I went to the kitchen to check our messages.  The first few were boring, one from my mom trying to get us to have a child (something that was shot down by Josh every time I talked to him), my yoga instructor asking me to come to his brother’s new health food shop (I’m not a vegan, and I wasn’t planning on becoming one), and Josh’s dentist reminding him that he had an appointment coming up.

Then I got to one that was . . . interesting.  It was Kari.  The message said, “Hey you guys!  I just wanted to - hic! - thank Josh for taking me out to dinner last Saturday.  I had sooo much fun!  Well, I’ll see y’all later, I guess.”

I pressed the stop button, suddenly not interested in the messages anymore.  Not only had Josh gone out to dinner on our designated date night, but he had gone out to dinner with my best friend?

What was going on?

2 years ago

I looked at Josh’s phone records, disgusted.  I looked at his credit card records, horrified.  There in front of me sat the proof that my husband had been having an affair with my best friend for years, without me even knowing it.

I don’t know how I didn’t realize sooner, really.  Maybe I was stupid.  Maybe I was just hiding it from myself.  Either way, I should have figured it out years before.  Even when we were getting engaged, six years before, he had been making hotel reservations and calling Kari at all hours of the day.  If I had just taken the time to do some spying, I would have saved so many years of my life from being wasted.

I had already packed my suitcases before opening the big legal-sized envelope.  I sort of already had a feeling what it would say.  They were in my car, just waiting for me to take them far away from this apartment that had brought me so much misery over the years.

Just to be sure, after I had opened the papers, I called Kari and asked her.  She had just started drinking, so her memory wasn’t shot, but she didn’t realize right away that I wasn’t the best person to admit to that she was having an affair with my husband.  Well, when she did tell me, and realized what she had done, she begged me to forgive her and Josh, that they wouldn’t meet again.  I just hung up.

I heard the door open and close and sat there at the kitchen table, counting the seconds until he would see me.  He walked in and asked, “Well, where’s dinner?”

I looked at the clock.  “It’s only four.  I wasn’t expecting you for another few hours.”

“I got done early today.”

“I see,” I replied, looking at my nails.

He sighed.  “What’s your problem today?  You’re not your normal self.”

I looked up at him, annoyed.  “Like you would know my normal self anymore.”

“What?”

I gestured to the chair across the table.  “Sit down, please.”

He looked at me suspiciously, but did so anyway.  I pushed the records that I had towards him, and the recording that I’d made of my conversation with Kari.  After he looked at all of the highlighted lines he said, “Oh, Myra-”

“Don’t you ‘Oh, Myra’ me.  Explain to me what this means.”

He sighed.  “Me and Kari, we’re friendly.  That’s all.”

“More friendly than with your own wife?  And why did you need all of the hotels?  You were in the city.  You have a home here.”

“Myra-”

I crossed my arms.  “Yes?”

Josh looked at me with those puppy dog eyes that I hadn’t seen in years, not since the first couple of years since we got married.  “I’m sorry.  I knew that you were friends with her when we started a relationship, when we continued the relationship even when we were engaged, but I love you both, and she didn’t want to lose me.  It would have murdered her.  And I didn’t want to lose you; I still don’t.”

“It’s too late,” I replied icily.  “I’m gone.”

He didn’t even try to stop me as I got up and took the last suitcase out to my car and drove away.

Now

The divorce was settled two months later.  He got everything except my car and personal belongings.  I didn’t really care, in any case.  I didn’t want anything.

I’m looking at the newspaper at the part that tells you who got married to whom.  I’m not really all that surprised to see that Josh and Kari got “hitched” last week.  And you know what?  I don’t care.

Because I married his brother.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think! I know it's longer, but I felt that each part was necessary. I'm trying something new, and since none of my close friends or family have been through this I don't really know anything of how things like this goes, but I hope I was close with just stuff I've seen on TV and using my own imagination. Please review!

Reviews

[JulieNorell]

Oh my gosh! I laugh hysterically at the ending! This is very good and very ironic!
LOVED IT!!

[taylorswift22]

thats a great story

[Bella-Marie]

Very funny and very witty. Enjoyed the way it flashed back instead of rolling fowards.

[Aislinn Gryffin ((Ashes..]

i love this short story. The ending was fantastic, and although it was a little predictable the predictability felt natural, as if it was meant to be that way. =)
A truly terrific write, especially for someone who hadn't gone through this. =)
You succeeded in trying something new successfully.

[Zackery Alan Daley]

A fantastic short story. The only thing that troubles me is how long you were married to this less of a man. Otherwise, I loved the comic relief at the end when all you've read up until that point are obvious signs of denial and cheating.