To Keep Her Safe is All I Know

Chapter 8

Melanie stands over a dead body, examining it. The man was older; he had been about 73 when he died. He was found at the bottom of the stairs at his house and his family couldn't tell whether he had died due to a fall down the stairs or of natural causes simply because he was older. Melanie didn't have to do an identification; this man's family knew who he was and they knew that he was gone. It was his wife that had found him. That was a relief for Melanie now. She hated having to do consultations and identifications. She always felt horrible either way. If the people that came in to identify a body recognized it, then that meant that they just lost someone they once loved. Some of them cried, others even screamed, and some of them just stood there in shock, barely able to give an answer as to whether or not they recognized the body. Their faces usually said enough though. If they didn't recognize the body, then that meant that they still didn't know whether or not their loved one was dead and they were left to still question everything about their lives.     

The body lay face down on the table as Melanie looked at the back of the head for any signs of trauma. Her phone then begins to ring. Melanie looks at her phone laying nearby and sees that it's John calling. Today was Wednesday, so it was John's day to have Sadie. That made Melanie a little bit worried as to why he would be calling her. She sets her equipment down, removes her rubber gloves and answers her phone.

"Hello?"

"Melanie?"

"Yes, what's the matter? Have you gotten Sadie yet?"

"No, I'm leaving to get her in a few minutes."

"Then what are you calling me for?"

"I miss you."

"What?"

"I miss you, Melanie."

"John, I'm at work. I don't have time for this."

"Please, Melanie! We were so great together."

"You lied to me. You said awful things to me and made me feel at fault for the things that were going wrong in our marriage."

"I can change! I can quit work and get a different job and turn it all around!"

"That still doesn't change the fact that your belief system is disgusting. I work with gay and transgender people all the time, John! What would you say if I came home from work one day with stories to tell you about those people? What would they think of me being married to a conversion therapist? If I had known that that was how you thought of those people back in high school, I never would have said 'yes' when you first asked me out. And you knew that I was pro LGBTQ back then too and you still lied so that you could have me. I can't forgive that so easily, John."

"Please, Mel. Just think. We have Sadie together. We could get back together and have more babies and have the family and the life that we've always wanted to have together!"

"You think it would just be so easy for me to drop everything and forgive you for all you've done? What if we were to get back together? What if we were to get remarried and have more kids? What if one of those kids ended up being gay? Hmm? Or a different gender? What would you do then, Johnathan?"

John snorts, "Come on, Mel. I really don't think any of our kids would ever - "

"Sadie is a boy, John."

There's a pause, and a long one at that. Melanie almost began to question if John were even still breathing. She mentally scolded herself, wishing she hadn't just blurted that out, especially over the phone. John had to find out eventually though.