UNHINGED

CHAPTER 5

Vaughn 

I really didn't want to leave her, but I had to talk to Karen. Where in the world had she gotten to so quickly? I wondered as I scanned the busy hallway hopelessly trying to catch a glimpse of her. I  headed to the parking lot, where I was finally able to locate her. 

"Karen! Wait up!" I yelled. She stopped and then whirled around at the sound of her name. I jogged to where she stood, slightly out of breath. She was pretty fast for a pregnant lady. 

"Is it true?" she asked, through clenched teeth. 

"I don't know, maybe." I answered as truthfully as I could. What I couldn't tell her was how I was secretly hoping that it was. 

"Ok...but that doesn't have to change anything." She replied. "We can still go on with our plans right?" she searched my face for a conformation that I just couldn't give her. 

It sort of pained me to see the hopeful look on her face, but she was dead wrong. This bit of information had completely changed everything, at least for me it did. I just didn't have the heart to tell her yet. 

"I'll meet you back at the house so that we can talk about it." I told her. She smiled faintly, and then placed a small kiss on my lips before she walked away. Nothing, I felt absolutely nothing for this woman. I know that I should have, but I didn't.  

All that mattered to me was the fact that Claire was having my baby, and I was now the happiest man alive. Maybe this could be our second chance, I thought smiling to myself. I could only hope that my wife would be able to forgive me for all of the things that I had said and done.  

A fresh start is exactly what we needed. I would spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to her. I just had to find a way to get rid of Karen first. Harsh I know, but the truth is I didn't love her, and I never did. My heart has and always will belong to Claire.  

Karen was a stupid drunken mistake (that I didn't even remember) that had snowballed into a harsh reality. I was busy drowning my sorrows one night after finding some love- letters from Paul confessing his undying love for my wife. It nearly killed me reading about how they were planning on running off together; about how he was so glad that she had finally decided to leave me and start a new life with him and our children.  

I was crushed, and began to knock down shot after shot. I didn't even realize that anyone else was home. When I woke up the next morning to find Karen naked, and wrapped around me in my marital bed, I was mortified. 

The guilt literally ate me alive. It got to the point that I couldn't even look my wife in the eye anymore. We then began to fight so constantly that it became a normal everyday occurrence.  

In the end I just packed my bags, and left my home, my wife, and my family. This was something that I have regretted every single day since. I was just so confused, and angry that I couldn't even see pass my own selfishness. I lashed out at Claire every chance I got. I really thought that she had been fooling around with Paul for years. I blamed her for everything, for cheating with Paul, for me cheating with Karen. I even blamed her for the death of our children.  

Maybe she had been with him this entire time, and they were just trying to cover it all up. That just didn't make any sense though. They didn't really have a reason to hide, especially now. I had a sinking suspicion that I had been wrong about everything. I had way too many questions, and not enough answers. 

When I finally arrived at the house I didn't go in right away. I had a hunch that I needed to follow up on. Pulling out my phone, I dialed the number to Mercy General.  

"Claire, don't hang up!" I begged. 

"What do you want Vaughn?" she snapped at me impatiently. 

"I just wanted to know one thing? Do you still have those letters that Paul wrote to you?" 

"Letters; what letters? Paul has never written a letter in his life!" she said angrily 

"Are you sure?" I really wanted to know. 

"I'm positive, now leave me alone!" she yelled, and then slammed down the phone before I ever had a chance to respond.  

The more and more I thought about it the more confused I became. Something was off. Nothing was adding up anymore. Finally getting out of the car I decided to go and face the music. I knew that this was going to hurt, but it's what's best for everyone involved. 

Karen 

What was taking him so long to get in here? I was peeping through the blinds when I saw him arrive a few minutes ago. Maybe he had changed his mind. Maybe he decided to go back to that slut after all. 

"Stop it Karen. You're just being a little paranoid right now. Of course he hadn't changed his mind, he loves you." I said aloud trying to comfort myself.  

Of course it didn't work. In fact it had the complete opposite effect. The wait was killing me, so I decided to go out after him. I was halfway to the door when he walked through it. Relief washed over me instantly. 

"Hey, there you are!" I said, wrapping my arms around him. His body tensed at my touch, and then he shrugged out of my embrace.  

"Karen....we need to talk." He told me, and I instantly knew what was coming next. 

"I've given it a lot of thought and I don't see how it's possible for us to be together." He said, shaking his head in regret. 

"Why not? Is it because Claire may or may not be having your baby?" I asked as I tried to hold in my anger. 

"That,..... and the fact that I still love her. I never really stopped." He admitted truthfully. So there it was, the truth, finally. But, surely he wasn't going to leave me for her. I couldn't go through this again. No, not again. 

"Well what about me Vaughn? I'm having your son. Does that not mean anything at all to you?" I pleaded with him. "You're just a little confused right now, that's all. After you've had some time to think things through, you'll see things more clearly." I attempted to make him see reason. 

"I've never seen things as clearly as I am right now. Karen I don't love you. I never did. Now I will help you take care of our son, but you and I are over. We should have never began." He told me. Hearing him say those words was like a cold hard slap in the face. I was so sick and tired of this bitch getting everything! Everything that I have ever loved, she just took away from me. I had to find a way to get rid of her once and for all. 

"She'll never take you back!" I screamed in his face.  

"It doesn't matter. I would rather spend the rest of my life chasing after her, than spend another day living a lie with you." And with those last words, he turned and headed for the door. 

"Vaughn! Don't you turn your back on me!" I yelled after him. He just waved me off and kept on going never bothering to look back once. Maybe, just maybe if he did things might have turned out a little differently.  

Humph, not so fast buddy. I thought as I walked over to the little side table, and pulled out the revolver. One shot, one kill. The force of the bullet spun him around, and then he collapsed on the floor. I slowly walked over to where he lay, sprawled out on floor struggling to speak.  

"See what you made me do!?" I screamed as I leaned over and grabbed him by the collar. "Why did you have to try and turn your back on us?" I asked him. "Why couldn't you just love us like you were supposed to?" I begged as I shook him. 

I watched and waited for his answer. He slowly drifted in and out of consciousness. One word was all that he could manage. 

"Claire." He said as he struggled to hang on to life. He was fighting to stay alive for her. Even after everything, it was Claire that he would spend his last breath for. 

"You know, we really could have had the perfect family" I told him right before I kicked him in his side. He groaned in pain. I can't even begin to describe the pleasure I got from that simple action. It felt so good I did it again and again. "I'm going to kill her ever so slowly, and I'm going to enjoy every single minute of it. Maybe you'll get your second chance in the next life." I spat at him. 

I took one last look at the pathetic heap before me. It was time to pay my baby sister a much needed visit. I am so going to enjoy this. I thought to myself as I walked out the door. Ready or not Claire, here I come.