“I should have known Haley, I
should have” yelled Stuart unlatching the front door and floundering inside the
house. Haley jumped off the car and started running after Stuart to stop him. Her
eyes wet and sullen were spreading the mascara all over her cheeks. “I didn’t
mean that Stu, It was innocent” cried Haley but the only thing that clanged in
his mind was the picture of his wife kissing another man who was none other
than his best friend turned office colleague. Stuart went straight to his
bedroom and slammed the door, which seemed to be a wise thing to do as it was
quite essential for him to spent some time alone and digest the scenario he’d
just witnessed. As for Haley it seemed sage that she uses the sofa as her bed
and the living room as her actual room to spend her glum night.
It was autumn and the night was exceedingly damp. Haley had her body covered
with the old blanket she dragged from the attic, which more or less smelled
like burned plastic. She could feel the tears dripping off her lashes as she
lay lifelessly and stared the ceiling. The idea that her intimate relation,
which was successfully hushed up for about a year now, have been dreadfully
exposed by her own husband. She kept goggling at pattern engraved on her
ceiling when out of the blue her mind left for a trip down memory lane. She
started picturing her wedding, that cathedral which was quite exquisitely
decorated by her college mates and the white gown she wore including the tux
she chose for Stu, and then there was the ceremony when they both took their
vows and the trademark wedding kiss. This made Haley nostalgic and she finally
felt the intensity of the pain she’d caused her husband who was faithful to her
this whole time despite of every hindrance that grew between them. Since the
whole day was quite tiring, and despite of every effort she made to stay awake,
Haley eventually fell asleep praying that the odds might be in her favor in the
morning that waits ahead
The next morning was a bit warmer than yesterday’s and Haley
felt the need of sleeping a bit longer since she discerned her unpreparedness
for an encounter with Stuart. What she didn’t know that Stuart has already left
for work without notifying her. Haley pulled herself up an hour later than her
usual routine. She scratched her shambled hairs, yawned for like a minute and
then finally stood up to look for her better half. She called out Stuart’s name
several times with decent audibility but every time the reply was the echo of
her own voice. She went up to her bedroom but saw no one except a note that
caught her attention when she glanced at their bed. The note was neatly folded
and engraved upon was only a sentence in Stu’s handwriting which stated, “Off
TO WORK. DON’T WAIT.”
Haley
knew that any means of contacting Stu at this instant won’t bear fruit and so
she placed the note at the same place and in the same manner and left the room.
Haley went downstairs; unaware of what necessary steps she must take to avert
the destruction of her marriage. She poured a glass of red wine, sat on the
sofa and waited.
An hour passed by, and all Haley managed to do was drink. She was about to pour
herself another glass when the phone rang. She placed her glass on the kitchen
counter, stumbled herself towards the phone and pulled the receiver. “Haley
Adams?” confirmed a feminine voice from the other side. Since Haley was
somewhat near to be called wasted and speaking seemed a bit difficult so all
she could manage were a few emm hmm’s. “I am speaking from City Hospital” the
voice continued, “I am extremely sorry to tell you that your husband have
encountered a terrible accident and has landed in coma.” Haley, who was already
going through a trauma and was significantly drunk, couldn’t digest the news of
her husband’s accident and dropped the receiver that instant, her head spun
vigorously and the only person she could think of was Stuart.
Her body was paralyzed and she was only able to visualize
distorted images of her living room. This continued for some seconds when she
finally fell on the sofa and passed out.
The phone rang again causing Haley to yank up moaning. Her head felt like a
drum set with a rookie playing it. She picked up the phone from her satchel and
answered it with a “Yeah”. It was the same feminine voice reminding her
husband’s condition. She wrenched herself up, hastened towards her car and
jumped in.
She brought down the windows, adjusted the side mirrors, twisted the ignition,
geared in and went off towards to the hospital.
The hospital was a couple of miles away from Haley’s residence and took about
half an hour to reach there but Haley managed to arrive there sooner. She
entered the parking lot, parked her car haphazardly and rushed out to acquire
her husband’s condition. She entered the hospital from the main entrance crossing
the emergency room witnessing Stretchers, wheel chairs, bleeding skulls, and
skins she finally reached the reception. Breathing vigorously she uttered her
husband’s name, “Stuart Evans!” the receptionist cast a glance on the monitor,
pressed few keys, dragged the mouse in several directions and finally spoke,
“fifth floor, room number 42”.
Haley ran towards the elevator, floundered herself in and pressed the button.
Several seconds later the elevator’s door opened and it was the fifth floor.
Haley stood on the aisle with several rooms lined parallel to each other.
Before she could start searching for her husband’s room, she saw a cop
investigating a doctor with an envelope in his hands. She walked there without
giving any sign of her occupation to see the room number in front of which the
investigation was going on. It was room number 42 which made Haley realize that
she was about to see or hear things that might pull the ground beneath her. The
Cop pause his investigation as soon as he saw Haley standing right beside him,
and the situation got stuck into an awkward silence. Exchange of looks
continued for a while when the cop finally decided to break the silence, “Are
you Mrs. Evans?” the cop queried. Haley nodded allowing the cop to resume his
talk, “As you’ve already heard about your husband’s condition, I’d like you to
know something more Mrs. Evans.” He paused allowing Haley to digest what she
has just heard but she kept goggling at him. “Your husband’s accident was not
an accident but a suicide attempt” The cop uttered making Haley’s situation
even tenser and traumatic. She couldn’t fathom the reasons that
made her husband fell in such steep ditch of depression. Well alright wives
cheat but that doesn’t mean husbands start dying, She thought to herself but
soon after realized that how evil she’d become, trying to justify herself when
she was on the verge of being called a murderer. The silence prevailed across
the aisle, even the sound of bees buzzing felt deafening, it was then the cop
finally decided to seal the conversation. He handed her an envelope with Haley
written on one side of it. “We found it on the accident site; it might have
fallen from his hand when the accident occurred”. Haley took the envelope and
start inspecting it. She nodded slightly to the cop, he caste a glance on the
doctor and they both walked away and disappeared at the end of the aisle. Haley
looked at the envelope and began thinking of what might be inside. She tore one
side of the envelope, her face still wet and eyes insanely red. She took out a
piece of paper neatly folded; she unfolded it and began reading,
Dear Hales,
As you might have
already been informed that I am no longer in a position to tell you how deeply
sorry I am for failing our relationship and you. I know that I’ve not been an
ideal husband lately and my lack of attention towards our relationship
compelled you adopt such a step. It’s too late to say this but I want you to
know no girl could’ve ever acquired a place in my heart other than you. I’ve
loved you all my life and will love you beyond everything even slightly dearest
to me. I know that having an affair would have caused you the same pain as it
has caused me but let me assure you that I’ve forgiven you and I hope that you
forgive me. It seems that my worldly journey have no meaning without you in it,
therefore I’ve decided to end it. I am well aware that many will blame you and
if anyone does, show them this letter without any hesitation, and don’t even
think that my love for you have reduced even slightly. I’ve loved you all my
life the way I loved you when I first saw you although I wasn’t able to make
you believe it which would be the biggest regret of my life. I hope you forgive
me, and move on with your life with the same happy nature of yours, I pray that
we’ll meet again someday till then GOOD BYE
Love,
Stuart.
The phone rang as Haley finished of
reading the letter, she wiped her tears but they kept on falling on her lap.
She took out her phone, it was Luke the person she hated the most at that
instant. She pressed the red ignore button and dropped the phone in her
satchel. Haley had a vacuum in her heart, her soul not willing to forgive
herself. She knew what she'd done and the price needed to pay for it, and she
was willing to cross any barrier just to hear one thing from her husband, his
trademark, “HEY HALES!”
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