• ‘Till Death Do Us Part
    Part 2

    tab She closed her eyes, stepping up onto the edge of the roof, her hands rising up to her sides. The tears had caused what seemed to be like permanent lines on her face at this point and her skin felt cold there more than anywhere else from the wind. She slowly tipped forward, rocking slightly, just enough to fall off. The wind instantly began rushing past her, whistling in her ears. This was it. It was going to work this time. Just as her head began to hurt from the pressure, she felt something wrap around her waist. The wind quickly began to slow then disappear completely. She felt herself slow down, then finally fall extremely softly on something that was nothing like the concrete she was expecting. She opened her eyes, finding herself back inside the apartment, safely in bed.
    tab She just lied there, crying, whimpering, her tears soaking the bed sheets to the point that the stain could be seen from across the room. She curled up into a ball, rocking herself, crying more and more until she finally screamed aloud and begin flailing. Within a matter of seconds, the sheets were tattered, the pillows had been thrown from the bed, and the nightstand had been kicked over and the contents from its only drawer spilt out onto the floor. She cried louder, grabbing one of the closest pillows from the floor and cuddling tightly with it.
    tab It should have worked. She should have succeeded. There was no possible way for that to have happened and she not die. Unless it had all been a dream. All of her attempts, if they were dreams, then that would mean they wouldn’t have even happened. But there was one thing she knew had happened. One thing that she knew was true. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been here in this apartment in the first place. If it had been a dream, and she had just now awaken from it, then that would mean that whatever she did now would have to work. That’s when she saw it: the gun. It was on the floor next to the nightstand. It must have fallen out when she kicked it over. This time it had to work. There was no logical way that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish her task this time.
    tab She dropped the pillow, slowly walked over to the gun, bent down, and picked it up. She checked it, making sure that it was loaded. It was. She made sure that there was no safety set, slowly placed the barrel into her mouth, and prepared to shoot herself. At that same exact moment, keys jingled in the door and it opened. In walked another woman, holding on bag of groceries in one hand. She looked around her apartment, mystified by all of the destruction. She walked into the kitchen, setting the bags down then walked into the bathroom, calling for someone named Bethany. When she saw that the bathroom was even more destroyed than the living room, she got scared, rushing into the bedroom. That’s where she saw her.
    tab “Bethany!”
    tab The woman screamed for Bethany not to pull the trigger, running over to her as quickly as she possibly could. Bethany looked back at her, running towards her in what seemed to be slow motion. She slowly closed her eyes one more time, easing her finger tighter onto the trigger, tears pouring down her face so much that they were practically rivers. The gun clicked. Nothing happened. Bethany opened her eyes in shock as the other woman quickly yanked the gun away and threw it across the room.
    tab “Bethany! Bethany!”
    tab She continued screaming the woman’s name and she just stared at her, then past her. She saw how messed up the living room was, from what she’d done. It wasn’t a dream. She’d had tried more than once. She had been stopped. She had somehow failed each and ever single time to kill herself like she had wanted. She burst into more tears, grabbing tightly onto the second woman, screaming.
    tab “No! It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It should have worked. It was supposed to work. It won’t. I can’t do it. He won’t let me do it. It’s not fair.”
    tab “Bethany come on, let’s get you back in bed honey.”
    tab “I don’t want to go back to bed! I don’t want to be here anymore! I want to die! I’ve been trying to all morning and the b*****d won’t let me! It’s not fair!”
    tab “Honey please,” she said, trying to stay calm, stroking her hair as she lead her to the bed, tears running down her face as well at this point.
    tab “Leave me alone,” screamed Bethany, forcing the other woman off of her. “You don’t understand! You don’t understand what it’s like to have lost him!”
    tab “He may have been your husband but he was also my brother,” screamed the woman. “I lost him too Bethany! You aren't the only one that's hurting from this!”
    tab Bethany looked at her, tears streaming even more from her eyes. She lost all sense of words, unable to speak anymore, and just collapsed into her sister-in-law. They held each other, crying, keeping each other comfort for a while before Bethany was lead back to bed.
    tab “It’s not fair,” said Bethany as she was tucked in and the bed was slowly adjusted around her, tears still streaming down her face. “It’s not fair. I want to be with him. He wasn’t supposed to go.”
    tab “I know Beth,” said the second woman softly as she set the night stand back up. She picked up a small, gold framed photo of Bethany and her late husband kissing each other on their wedding day, the words ‘Not Even Death Will Part Us’ written clearly in the lower right corner. She then searched around for his ring, placing it beside the photo. She moved in beside Bethany, cradling her, comforting her, saying once more, even softer.
    tab “I know.”

    ©2009 Animus Aufero
    A.K.A. Aaron-Leon on Deviant Art