Kisses

Goodnight Kiss

  Darling Tyler walked through the dark streets of New York City, alone, in the rain. The clock read 12:47AM. Late again? Of course. You see, Darling struggled to lead the life she wanted to lead, in fact, so far, she failed at it.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Darling's head was filled with many thoughts, but none were to rush home. None were to hurry. Because every time, when she would get there late, it was the same. Her husband was filled with boredom, exhaustion, and loneliness, as he would sit peacefully in the big red chair in their living room, half asleep. And her two young children would be sound asleep, knowing they had no worry because their mother would be there for them the next morning. Darling knew that there was nothing that could change this. So she felt no rush to get home.
She walked further down the dim-lit sidewalk next to the empty street. Less and less steady. She began to feel worried, as if something terrible was going to happen. Random images of the past began flipping through her head. Oh, how her head pounded at her. It always hurt, she thought, why does it have to always hurt? Suddenly an image of a clock reading 12:53AM flashed through her mind, blood flew from it, slowly. She quickly shot it out of her mind. Sometimes terrible things filled that mind of hers, she could get them away. She wouldn't let them bother her.
The clock now read 12:49AM. Darling was a mere 3-4 minutes from her quiet apartment and no worries filled her mind. She thought about how she would have to make things up to her family over the weekend. She began planning things in her head that she would do with them, and how much fun the young family would have together. A thing she did often when it began nearing Friday night, but these plans never turned out. She always promised herself, "Next weekend, nothing will come up. We will enjoy being a family again.". But every single week, she disappointed them, and herself, yet again.
It was Friday, December 4th, and everyone had been surprised to see no sign of the cold winter weather. No signs of Christmas nearing, no sign of joy. Darling often secretly wondered to herself, "Is it ever really going to come? Christmas I mean?". The rain began to pour heavily upon Mrs. Tyler's shoulders. So for the first time all week, she hurried home. As she walked in the door, the clock read 12:51AM. And just as Darling had thought, nothing had changed. Her young husband sat sleepily in the big red chair, waiting to know for certain that his whole family was safe inside their home.
"Darling, you're home. Must you really be getting back this late every night?", her husband, Kyle, asked drowsily.
Darling grinned a little, "Yes, well... I'm sorry Kyle. I just have things that need to be done. Work, you know?"
  But was it really work that always filled up Darling's head all day while she was working? "Was she even working all day? Why would her boss even expect her to work late every night like that?", you see, these were always the questions that flew through Kyle's head as fast as lightening whenever he asked Darling about her late working. She always answered the same, with no details. Kyle just wanted Darling to know he wanted to hear those details, he wanted her to trust him. And she did, and Kyle trusted her too. Right?
Kyle looked down at his feet then back up at Darling's tired face. "Yes, of course. I understand. Now you better go dry off and get to bed. I'll be in soon. Goodnight Darling, I love you."
Darling smiled, "Goodnight Kyle, I love you too." Darling kissed Kyle, a goodnight kiss. And left to bed.
The clock hit 12:53AM. Time had been going awfully slow, Darling thought to herself as she climbed into bed.
"AHHHHHHH!"
  The sharp screech shattered Darling's ears as it raced through the small, quiet apartment.
It was the children...