Nicole Cerniglia's 302

A man is in the shower.  The phone rings.  Rather than letting the machine pick up, he jumps out, snatches his dark blue bathrobe from the hook on the bathroom door, and races downstairs, dripping.  He trips on a child’s toy, and curses, wishing he had put a phone in the bedroom. What was he thinking?  He picks up the receiver in the middle of the fourth ring—the last one before the machine was to pick up.  The voice on the phone says . . .

“Hi, it’s Adele is James home?”

“Hey baby, Nora left a few hours ago, I’m getting ready now. I’ve missed you! Sorry that I haven’t been able to escape these past few nights.”

“No it’s understandable, does she have any suspicion?”

“Not at all, she drop the kid’s at her mother’s house and went to go visit her sister, I told you what happened didn’t I?”

“No, what’s going on?”

“He sister got in a car accident last week, she has been in a coma and is pretty banged up. These past few days Nora has been by her side. The doctor said she might pull out of it tonight so she decided to stay later. The house had been a real mess.”

“That’s really unfortunate, have you been with her?”

“Yes and no… I just got home from the hospital and it will be really nice to finally get out of this dreary place. I miss you Adele.”

“I miss you too baby, when will you be here?”

“Give me twenty minutes, I just need to get dressed and do a few things then I’ll be right over”

The man puts the phone gently back on the hook and looks around the crowded living room. Toys action figures of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are strewn all over the floor and the plasma TV was left on Nickelodeon muted where SpongeBob is mouthing something to Patrick. He walks over to the side of the TV and hits the power button. He shakes his head and he takes an overview of the room. Old dished from last Wednesday were left on the end tables still caked in food. Crusted over pasta sauce remains in them. He picks up the old dishes and walked down the hall and into the kitchen where the dishes from the past week are piled high in the sink. Nora told him that she would get to them today! What happened to her? Annoyed by the mess of the house, he tosses the dished to the top of the pile and walks away, leaving a miniature Leaning Tower of Pisa in his wake. He starts walking up the spiral staircase when he hears the front door creak open.

“Jack?”

“Nora? I thought you were going to be at the hospital all night?”

“Jack, she’s gone…just like that.”

“Nora? What do you mean? What happened?”

“She had slow internal bleeding that the doctors didn’t pick up.”

Jack sees his wife collapse on the black and white tile floor, sobbing. A look of confusion and impatience washes over his face as he pats her back.

“I’m so sorry Nora. At least she’s not in pain anymore.”

“I’m just going to miss her so much, baby, so much.”

Jack takes his hand off his wife’s back and looks at the time of his cell phone. Stressed, he tries to look for an escape.

“Nora I’m going to pick up some dinner and then I’ll snag the kids. I love you.”

“Jack please don’t leave me here alone!”

“Nora I’m hungry, I have to eat.”

Jack walks up the spiral staircase, leaving his wife alone whimpering on the tile floor.