Cryptophobia - Hell & High Water

CHAPTER 5 - CHRISTINE: 9:33am - 5 Days until outbreak

Where on Earth had that damned man gotten to now, Christine thought. He had been absent for well over forty-five minutes now. Drop of a penny her ass, that man just wanted an excuse to escape doing any work. Even on a ship with nowhere else to escape to, he had still managed to find a way to leave her on her own and disappear God only knew where and when he planned to return.

It had always been tremendously frustrating trying to maintain a relationship with a man who was in and out of their lives more than a cat with a ten second memory and its cat-flap. How did one deal with someone so temperamental like that? Here today, gone tomorrow. It was like watching her life play out in a TV drama.

It wasn't always like this; when they met, he was the perfect gentleman, putting her above all, disregarding messages from anyone and all in order to ensure that she was happy and in return for his attention whilst they were out, she was tremendously understanding when anything to do with his work was involved. He ran his own business after all, not only was it his source of income, but it was his pride and joy, without him it would simply fail to function like a well oiled machine. Yes, he had subordinates, but he was so hands on and both skilled and unique at what he did, so even if he taught others, there was always going to be reservations as to how well they were doing the job that he could do without blinking.

Yes, his job was more than just a job, it was his very reason for living. He never really talked much about his past and Christine thought it best not to probe, he'd talk to her one day about it when he was good and ready, but she she had a strong hunch that it may have led to the person he had now become, that not of course being said in a derogatory manner. He was a good man, if a little dismissive in the past few years. This tiresome disappearing act only began about five years ago; before that, he was still pretty attentive, if a little distant in his behaviour, something that had accumulated over the course of of several years.

Five years had been so lonely with him away more than home and it was only natural she would think he was cheating, as much as it pained her to have gotten to the point where she would believe such a thing, but what else could possibly be the cause of a man's stray? She fought the desire to challenge her husband with the accusation of infidelity or pry for the sake of investigation, but try as she might, eventually she hired a private investigator, succumbing to her insecurities. If she had nothing to worry about, surely the P.I would find nothing and she could put the idea behind her without her ever knowing.

After months of investigation, the result was exactly as she feared, absolutely nothing. Ironically, she had hoped it was at least something she could challenge him about, challenge him, vent her anger and frustration and if needs be, have a just cause to leave him, but at least there would be closure. Now she was simply supposed to wallow in loneliness as he took seemingly endless business trips with his colleagues. Now if she challenged him or threatened to leave him, she'd be burdened with the guilt of being the bad one. Something had to give.

She sighed and set about folding some of her mother's clothes and placing them into the drawers. Her mother was a frail woman with terrible hearing and a weak disposition, something that had only begun to develop over the course of the past ten years. At the tender age of eighty, she was well on the road to her deterioration. Her mother had once been a talented surgeon, held and abided by strict conservative values and contrary to belief, looking at her current pitiful state, was once extremely clued up, forthright, unhindered by emotional restraints and logically oriented. These traits might have made her an astounding surgeon, but only an unbearable and distant mother. Christine's childhood had been a challenge and that was putting it lightly. With a mother like hers, all the luxuries that other children took for granted were only a bitter dream to her. Her mother had so adamantly wanted for her to follow in her footsteps, as such, she bought nothing she ever considered unnecessary or distraction. Where other girls grew up with barbies, lego and dolls, she grew up being taught to master operation and chess, both for honing patience and logic. Whilst they were reading Alice in Wonderland, she was reading surgical practise and theory. Whilst they were kissing boys and trying on different clothes, she was taking cram courses and entering general knowledge competitions. She hated it all, but never knew how to relay that to her mother, at least not until her later years when her life took a dramatic turn and for once in her miserable life, she made a choice for herself. It seemed almost ironic now that she was having a similar dilemma with her own daughter and reminiscent of the clash she had had with her own mother upon taking a completely different direction to that of her mother.