What She Doesn't Know

Chapter 1

Kissing her delicate skin, she shivered upon contact. The wind toyed with her hair as it blew lightly around her. The stars gazed brightly above her as the moon illuminated the backyard and the balcony she currently stood on. She sighed, wishing upon the stars that the vastness of the ground below her would one day be covered by children. Her own children.

She brought her arms to hug around her mid-drift in an attempt to shield her body from the chill of the night. She was exhausted from the night's shift and the only manner in which she could finally relax was to be outside as she listened to the nature of the world around her.

Jane, her coworker, had called in early, explaining through harsh breathing that she had been sick for the past two days and hoped today was the final day.

To add to Jane not being there, a drug-addicted mother had given birth to a little girl who would not stop screeching and crying throughout the day; that is until she fell asleep in her arms. What made the day worse was the inconsistency of help from the other nurses who were on call.

When they would come in, they would accomplish their job; yet they had omitted their responsibility to do it well. That, of course, left her to clean up what they had left dirty.

She needed a break from the new nurses and yearned to head back to the nurses who knew what they were doing and did it well. She recalled one of her mentors telling her that this point in here is the most crucial; for she had been working at the hospital for three years and it was her turn become a mentor for the new nurses that came in.

As a gust of wind swept across her body, she closed her eyes and attempted to will it to take away her problems and anxiety along with it. She was fortunate to not have work the next day, unlike Jane who was scheduled for the next day.

"You should go to bed."

The deep voice of wisdom cut through the quietness of the evening she had been enjoying. Her default setting of casting a sarcastic remark had been turned for the night. Instead, she rolled her eyes even though he could not see through the back of her head. Although, she wouldn't put it past her husband to do something as spontaneous as that.

"I'll be in. Just a moment."

He replied with a sigh which was accompanied with a shrug, to which of course the shrug she could not see. Knowing fully well that he should not dare rush her, he simply loosened his tie so that it hung loosely around his neck. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

She knew better than to question his intentions about going downstairs since the last time he had yelled at her to go back up the steps to their room due to someone he was having a meeting with. It wasn't the first time he had yelled her and it definitely won't be the last, either.

Their relationship was one of confusion that whipped furiously on different nights; other nights consisted of quiet moments as the tension between the two of them was subdued. Two years have passed since both of them exchanged their vows. That memory has been engrained in her memory as one of the happiest moments in her life.

It was one of the few moments her husband's smile was sincere and his arms never left her body, and if he let go, she would fade away like an apparition.

Her skin prickled as the forceful wind swept across the balcony, picking up her hair from her shoulders as it blew to her right. Thoughts of being carried away by the wind into a different world have crossed her mind once or twice before.

Images of a fairy world filled with breathtaking vegetation and various colors of pixie dust floating about the area tantalized her creative mind. Perhaps she could take Jane with her as they danced atop mushroom heads and floated down trickling streams with a leaf as their boat. Nothing to worry about except for intruders from a different world trying to overthrow their Queen and take their land.

Perhaps she would even be married to a warrior who adored her and her children. He would always come home, wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her lips as their children came rushing in to greet him.

A girl can dream.

Another gust of wind blew away her fantasies. She decided it would be a good idea to rid herself of the sweat she accumulated through her shift and take a shower. Maybe then her husband would be more acquiescent to her going downstairs for a midnight snack.