Strange Magic - trixya

The Bitch Is Back

After long afternoons of coffee, cigarettes and passionate love making sessions, they reached the end of the book. This was the last story that Trixie told Katya for the last chapter. It was an old tale or legend that everyone knew in her town and she had heard about it for years. Obviously, nobody knew where it originated or if it was real or not.

"From what I know this story might be from the early 1900s," Trixie started to narrate. "This story involved a couple, he was a soldier and she was a seamstress. They were really poor, and they lived in a small town where the lack of possibilities made it hard for them to grow economically. Supposedly, they were living day by day, especially the wife that spent hours and hours sewing to survive.

One day out of nowhere, tired of his misery, the husband left his wife. She was so devastated, since she was so in love with him, but he was very selfish and greedy, he wanted to be successful on his own.

So a few years passed, and he got the range that he wanted in the military and he married the rich daughter of a general. So slowly he climbed into society, becoming friends with the elite. He had everything that he wanted, but he wasn't happy. It seemed like his new wife was even more selfish than him, she was cold and egocentric. He was rich but his heart was empty and sad, and that's when he realized his mistake. He missed his first wife so much. They were poor back then, but he was happy next to her. So he made a plan that when he left his charge and with enough money for the two, he would come back to her and live the rest of his life with her. And he did, he divorced his second wife and he returned to his hometown almost ten years later.

When he was back in front of the humble home where he used to live with his first wife, he noticed that there were some changes. The home seemed neglected and deteriorated more than before, but it made sense, he guessed; since this woman was left with barely any money to eat. The guilt hit again but anyways, he entered. The inside looked as disregarded as the outside, but at this point he didn't care. He noticed that the wedding photo was still up in the chimney that was empty and with no fire lit. That detail gave him hope. He finally found her on the back porch, she was sitting on the wood floor, sewing by hand a skirt. When she turned around, her face transformed from a monotonous gaze to a surprised smile.

"Harry!" That was his name, if I remember correctly. Well, she dropped everything on the floor and stood up in shock. He was stunned, she looked as beautiful as he remembered. Her porcelain skin was the same, her eyes were clear as the sea and her lips full like his memory recalled. He wished he had aged as well as her, because at that point he supposedly was in his 50s.

"Anna..." He had mumbled, not only overwhelmed by the encounter but ashamed about what he had done. But right there, she didn't seem to mind at all what happened in the past. She looked so glad to see him. "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry for leaving you. It was a mistake..." He was begging her, and he almost kneeled. "I shouldn't have left you here..."

But she was so happy to see him that she got closer to him with a merciful face. "It's okay, I'm just glad that you're back at home. That's all I ever wanted, that you came back to me..."

That's when Katya interrupted the story, and the typing in the machine stopped. "Wow, I would have given him a kick in his balls"

Trixie nodded "Same, but you know... That was unthinkable in those years..."

The Midwestern carried on with the story. "He was so stunned and grateful that she had forgiven him, that he couldn't help but hug her. He caressed her long black hair that for him felt as soft as he remembered. It was like he was living again next to her. But, the night came in and they shared the bed again, like nothing had changed between them.

The next morning, he was woken up by the sun that was hitting strongly over his face. Which he thought was weird, since the windows had curtains. When he opened his eyes, he immediately noticed a hole in the roof... A huge one. He frowned, not sure how he didn't see that the night before. Then he observed the bedroom better: it was in total decay. The wood was almost rotten, the windows were broken, even the sheets he was covered with were dirty, they had stains and holes. He sat on the bed, disgusted by everything that was surrounding him. Finally he turned his eyes to Anna, she was asleep, her back turned to him. Her long black and silky hair was displayed on their bed, and it almost glowed thanks to the morning light. He sighed in relief at waking up next to her, but eventually he wanted to wake her up to ask her what had happened to the place.