When the nightmares come

Photo: Daniel Weisser/Corbis

Flash Fiction Friday #52

I had wanted to write about the journey home, but I couldn’t just then because we were departing from the same place and his wife would know. But I suppose it doesn’t matter now, my writing about it, that is, because he is there and I am here and no one is happily ever after.

It had been a cold December in Boston and we wandered the streets where no one knew us. He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose before the light turned red and we could cross, fingers strung together, parchment and silk. 

At the Indian restaurant I glowed, basking in his attention, returning questioning glances with a raised eyebrow. I showed him how to scoop the aloo gobi with naan and relish the scent of curry buried under his fingernails the next day. I had never felt so beautiful or adult or deliciously wrong.  

Every night at dinner he’d disappear to call her, to check-in, to wish her good night. While she lay in the hospital; he’d be lying with me. There was nothing delicious about it. When he slid the chair back and politely excused himself, I hissed under my breath and pretended it didn’t sting.

I knew the hardest part would be the journey back, that we couldn’t continue to exist in this honeymoon bliss where no one knew us. Because people knew us. People knew.

Home again and I crawled onto the couch amid scattered boxes, bare bookshelves and unpacked clothes just where I’d left them and imagined how different our respective homecomings must have been. Home again and I was drained, missing him, unwilling to face tomorrow and familiar things without his musky scent to rock me to sleep when the nightmares came.

I wondered if she was alive still and if the only way I’d know was if he showed up on my doorstep in tears. I closed my eyes and let the nightmares come.

This is a work of fiction. Flash Fiction Friday is a weekly writing prompt exercise led by Elisha Bartels. She posts them on Fridays to her blog and social media and writers use the trigger words to write a short piece of fiction. They post to their space and share with Elisha, tagging others in the group where possible. Feel free to join in!