Residence

Chapter 2 The Nightmare

Chapter 2 The Nightmare

When Beverly had slammed the door shut, I was utterly lost. She was shutting the door on the life we had together, trashing everything as if it meant nothing at all. I could feel a heaviness in my chest that tightened up into my throat. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't manage to make the tears come out. Had I done it all in vain? I thought. Who would want me now? She was my one shot at happiness and now it was all gone.

As-thoughts tossed about in the corners of my mind, I felt as though there was no direction to them. They only served to make me crazy in this moment when I needed my sanity the most. She had always told me where to go, what I should do, and who I should see. It was strange, but the manner in which she gave me direction was comforting. I didn't have to think about my next move because Beverly had already decided it. She knew exactly how she wanted me act and I did it. It was easier than the torment of long drawn out conversations, tears, and flying objects. She had a finesse in the way her child-like tantrums yielded her results. She had perfected the whole thing down to a science. I had resolved that that was what my life was going to be. I would be a slave to her wishes. I would cater to her every whim. I did it all in return for her love. It was a love that was scarce and fleeting, but perhaps that's what made me work for it more.

I had grown so accustomed to loving her that I had lost myself in the crossfires. Sitting in my empty house, head in hands, I could feel the pang of loneliness. It was a feeling so dark and desperate that I knew I just didn't want to endure it anymore. I couldn't. It ached all the way down to my bones which were growing old and bitter anyway. I was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline, sad bank account, and no wife. I had hit rock bottom.

I remember looking in the bathroom mirror that day. I splashed the water on my face if only wash away the angst of my sadness. I hadn't heard from her in days and I had grown weary and tired. Maybe she really wasn't coming back. Maybe she really had had enough of me. If I were to just leave this world, then nobody would miss me at all.

I could see the tired old face looking back at me. I had lost the thick lustrous hair of my youth and my arms had turned fat and flabby. It was no wonder Bev had stopped finding me attractive. I didn't see how anyone could. This time, my eyes cried. I knew what I had to do. It was the only way I could find sweet relief.

My hand shook as I wrote the letter. I didn't want anyone to be blamed for it. Bev, I had a good life, but a life without you is no life at all. I love you and goodbye. - Mike I wrote. I slipped the pills in my mouth one-by-one. They slid down my throat with each swallow of bourbon. I laid my head on the pillow, feeling numb in my arms and legs. My eyes were heavy bags of sand as I closed them, knowing they would never open again.

"Mike!No! No!" she shrieked, holding my cold and lifeless body in her arms when she found me.

"You're a day late and a dollar short Bev," I said, but she couldn't hear me.

She couldn't see me. She could only hold onto the cold shell of a body I once occupied. It was sick and satisfying at the same time.

Armed with the distant memory of my apparent death, I realized that Bev hadn't left me alone. I had abandoned my own life ! I was a ghost. A spirit, fending for myself in a lonely realm between here and there.

Kevin was standing there with wide eyes. First looking at me, then back at his mother, not quite sure how to respond.

"Mom,he's right there!" he insisted.

His little finger was pointing straight in my direction. She shook her head again.

"Why don't we go take a look at your new room?" she asked.