A Valentine Surprise

Hunched over the candle-lit table, I sat ripping the heart-shaped cards into tiny pieces with a smile.

"She loves me, she loves me not..." I muttered, rubbing sleep from my eyes. Ignoring the dried flakes of blood under my fingernails, I stared at the mountain of ripped paper that sat next to the desk and sighed. Valentines was always the hardest day of the year, all those people in love and flaunting it to the world made me realize how badly I wanted her back. Ripping these cards helped the pain subside and forget about the way she tore my heart apart.

We were destined to be together, I'd do anything for that woman and I worshipped the ground she walked on. It's just that Valentines is such a cheap holiday, the superficial way we lavish gifts on our loved ones for one day when really I treated her like a goddess every single day but she was too distracted to see it.

When she told me she was seeing Gary, the idiot from her office, we fought for a while and she threw a plate at my head. With her last breath, she told me she hated me. But I don't hate her. I will always love her even if the pain is unbearable. So here I am, unable to move on and unable to look back, forcing myself not to succumb to this holiday but to no avail.

I ripped another card and threw it on the pile. "She loves me, she loves me not..."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Mr Wells, are you there? This is the police."

I froze, dropping the shreds of paper to the ground. What did the police want?

"Mr. Wells, can we come in? We know you're in there, we can see the light on." I cursed under my breath and quickly stashed the ripped up paper in the empty desk drawer.

"Hold on a sec!" I called, stuffing my hands in the dressing gown that hugged my naked body. My feet slapped noisily against the linoleum floor as I hurried across the lounge and pulled the door open.

Two policemen stood looking gravely at me, their radios crackling as they clicked them off at my appearance. I cast a glance behind them, and spied their car parked on the drive behind my Ford Focus.

"What's happened?" I said as I felt my stomach knot. Alarm bells rang in my head. Was it to do with my Jennifer?

"Can we come in?" One of the men asked, moving his head side to side as he tried to see behind me. I shrugged and feigned a smile, my inner voice screaming at me to say no. The police had always made me feel uneasy, something about their presence was just so unsettling. My heart thumped in my chest as I stepped aside and let the men into my house, trying to stop my hands from shaking. They stomped into my house and stood stiffly opposite me as I leaned against the wall.

"Nice place you've got here. Cosy." One of the men said, reaching in his pocket for a notepad and a pen. He looked in the direction of the desk for what felt like a lifetime as I held my breath, my heart continuing to hammer against my rib cage. Had he spotted the cards?

He turned his attention back on me and I smiled again, tying the dressing gown in a neat bow.

"Thank you. How can I help you gentlemen tonight?" I said, suddenly aware of my wide-eyed stare. I tried to stop but found myself acting more unnaturally so instead I turned my attention to a pile of washing next to the sofa, making a mental note to fold it later.

"Mr Wells, we just have a few questions about someone you used to know. Jennifer Gladstone?" I swallowed hard. My Jennifer. So it WAS about Jennifer after all.

I folded my arms across my chest, shivering from the cold, biting wind that sneaked in through the gaps under the front door. My feet ached where I was standing in one place and I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. I should have worn slippers.