Candle's Flame

                Shawn looked outside the building and hesitated for a moment before reaching for the door.  There was nothing telling him that it was a store except for an ‘OPEN’ sign hanging on the door.  Even the windows had been blacked out from seeing anything inside.
         “What kind of place did you send me to, Mike?”
         He opened the door and the ching sound of a bell echoed throughout the place.
         “Hello.  Is anyone here?”
         After a minute with no response, he continued into the store.  He found himself immediately in an aisle of candles on shelves higher than his six foot self.  He walked down the aisle looking at all the different kinds—large square brown ones that red underneath them RAISE; little cone shaped pink ones that read 1ST CRUSH; cylindrical rainbow ones which read TELLING YOUR PARENTS THAT YOU WERE GAY.  He went from aisle to aisle and each one had a myriad of candles with some kind of title underneath.
         After a while, Shawn came up to a candle that made him stop in his place.  It read FIX UP FOR BAD MARRIAGES.  He picked up the candle and looked it over.  Unlike the extravagant colors and height of the other ones, this one was no more than a plain beige nine inch candle. 
         “Are you going through a bad time in your marriage,” a small female voice said next to him.
         Shawn jumped and nearly dropped the candle.  He looked down to see an old Asian lady staring up at him. 
         “Hi, I didn’t hear you there,” he said after regaining his composure.
         “Many people say that I always sneak up on them,” she answered with a smile that showed her having only a few teeth.  “What can I do for you?”
         “A friend recommended this place, telling me that one of your candles helped him find the love of his life.  He told me to come and check it out and see if you have something to help me out.”
         “What ails you? Hopefully I have something to help you out,” she said still with the same toothless smile.
         “My marriage is going down the drain,” Shawn answered surprised that he was telling this to a stranger.  “Nothing seems to be going well between my wife and I and it seems like we’re not even trying anymore to work things out.  I love my wife and I never want us to part but with the way things are going it looks like that’s going to be the only solution.”
         “Hmmm,” she said grabbing a hold of the candle he still had in his hand.  “You have found your solution in this candle.  But I must warn you that nothing here comes cheap.”
         “I’m willing to pay anything if you can guarantee that it’ll work.”
         “There should be no doubt in any one of my candles.  They all work like they say they do, but money is not the only thing that you must pay.  When you purchase a candle from me, you are purchasing the change in your life that you wish for.  As soon as you light the candle, the change in your life will begin.  Whatever the candle say it will do, it will do that and more.  But when the candle’s flame run down and extinguish, be prepared to pay the unknown fee of what the candle has in store for you.”
         “Like what?” Shawn asked.
         “It’s up to the candle.  Neither I nor anyone else on this world can tell you what your payment may be.  So this is your warning: You can live the life of your dreams for a short time and sacrifice everything when the candle burns out or you can leave my shop now and try and work things out yourself.”
         Shawn stared at the old woman and realized that she was no longer smiling as she stared back at him.
         He began thinking back to the conversation him and Jean had this morning.  She told him that if things didn’t get better between the two of them, she would have no choice but to start the paperwork for a divorce.  She was going to throw away the twelve years they had been together.  He looked at the candle in the lady’s hand and couldn’t believe he was considering that a candle would change his life.
         “I’ll take it,” he said.
         “Then follow me,” she said as she turned around and walked over to the register near the door.
*        *        *        *
         Shawn walked into the house with a black bag underneath his arm.  He placed the bag down on to the coffee table and took the candle out.  Looking at it on his table made him feel foolish that he had just paid $300 for it.  He was glad that Jean was still at work so that she wouldn’t make fun of his stupidity. 
         He leaned back in the sofa thinking about the old lady’s final words to him.
         “Now remember, you still have a chance to just say no and forget about the candle.  If you choose not to light the candle then you can bring it back to me and I’ll give you half your money back.” 
         “Am I really doing this?” he said as he took out his Zippo and lit it on the first try.
         He placed the flame on to the wick of the candle and nothing happened more than the wick being lit up.
         “I guess that’s going to be a waste of a hundred and fifty dollars.”
         At that time he heard Motley Crue’s song Home Sweet Home coming from the inside of his jacket pocket.  He took his phone out and saw that it was Jean calling him.
         He let the music go on for a couple more seconds before he answered the call.
         “What’s up, Jean?” he said.
         “Oh my god, Shawn!  I have some great news for us!  I just talked to the doctor and he said that we are going to have a baby!  Not just one but twins.”
         “WHAT!” he shouted with joy as he nearly dropped the phone.
         “That’s why I’ve been acting the way I have been, Shawn.  I’ve been hormonal big time.  After our talk this morning I decided that I needed to find out what was wrong with me and why I’ve been such a bitch to you lately.  I’m so sorry about what I said this morning.  I didn’t mean any of it.  I love you so so much, and I am glad that you are the one who’s in my life.”
         “I love you to, Jean.”
         “Look I want to work all of this out,” she continued. “I want these kids to grow up in a world where their mom and dad are still together and still as much in love as the day we got married.  I don’t want us to fight any more.  I know that we can pull this together.  I know that these kids are going to be a blessing to us in more ways than they could ever imagine.  I want my Shawn back and I know you want your Jean back.  And some how together we’ll do it and make this work again.”
         Shawn held the phone to his ear and couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Just this morning she was about to walk out of the house without saying goodbye and now she was showering him with love that he hadn’t heard for a long time.  He looked at the candle as its flame continued flickering.
         “I know that we can do it,” he heard himself say.  “We have to do it for our kids.”
         “Yes we do,” she answered.  “I have to go back to work but I’m going to stop at the store and pick up some things so that we can have a romantic dinner like we use to back in the day.”
         “You’re going to cook?” Shawn asked with obvious surprise in his voice.
         “Of course silly-head.  You’re definitely not going to cook.  Last time you tried to cook, if I do recall, you nearly burned down the kitchen and we ended up having to order out.”
         A smile formed on his face as he thought back to that time.  “You know I just did that on purpose so that you would never ask me to cook again.”
         “And it so worked,” she said laughing.
         “I haven’t heard you laugh in such a long time,” Shawn said.
         “Well be prepared because we are going to be laughing and having a good time for the rest of our lives together.
         “I have to go, honey, but I will see you when I get home.  Love you.”
         “Love you too,” he said not believing he was just talking to the same wife of this morning.
         He heard a click from the other end and placed his phone down near the candle.  He stared at it again and for the first time since he had gotten it, he knew that it was truly going to bring a lot of joy to his life. 
*        *        *        *
May 28, 2007
         I know that I haven’t written in my diary for a long time, but today was such an amazing day that I wanted to remember exactly how I felt through my own writing.
         After eight months of knowing we finally had the two most beautiful babies I have ever seen:  Shawn Jr. and Isabel Wales.  I can’t believe that they are finally here and they are so perfect.  The doctor couldn’t believe how easy my pregnancy was especially since I had never had kids before.  He told us that I was the most amazing woman during child birth that he had seen in all of his twenty years as a doctor.  When he told me that,  I told him it was because I was having angels.  He had looked down at me and smiled.
         I guess I’m also writing in here because not only are our babies here but Shawn and I has had the best relationship in all of our twelve years of marriage, including the time before.  I have never loved him as much as I do now and I know that the feelings are mutual.  We have spent more time smiling and laughing with each other that I almost forgot about all the trouble we were having before.  Its like we are two completely different people that fell in love with each other all over again and actually every day feels like that.
         When he saw the twins, I saw a love in him that I never thought possible and it wasn’t just directed at them but it was also directed at me.  I’m so grateful for how much our lives have changed for the better.
         Even life outside our family has changed.  Shawn got a huge promotion with the aeronautical company and they are now worshipping every step he takes around there.  It seems like every other week he is getting a bonus for the things he’s doing there.  And I’ve quit my job and now I’m writing full time.  I have my first book coming out next month and I’m working on my second book as I write this.  I got over two million dollars for my first book.  When my agent called me and told me, I thought that she was kidding but when I went and picked up the check and held it in m hands I nearly fainted in her office.  She told me that my book will definitely make the Bestseller’s list and surpass many of the books out there now.
         So Diary as you can see my life is perfect.  I have two beautiful babies.  I have a husband that loves me more than I could ever imagine someone else loving me.  We are both doing phenomenal in our jobs.  There is nothing else that I could ever ask in life.  This is what I’ve always dreamed about, which is why I felt the need to record it all.  I hope that all of this will never end.
*        *        *        *
         “Shawn you have a call from Mrs. Robinson on line one.”
         “Mrs. Robinson?” Shawn asked over the intercom.
         “Yes she says that she’s Michael Robinson’s sister.”
         “Oh damn, Aileen.  Yes definitely put her through.”
         There was a click over the phone and then another one.
         “Aileen?”
         “Shawn?”
         “What’s up Aileen?  Have you heard anything from Mike?”
         “Yes—yes they found him and Kay at the side of a mountain.”  Now he was able to hear the tears in her voice.  “They said that as they were driving up the mountain something had happened to the car and they had lost control of it.  They had driven off the cliff and crashed into the ditch below.  Neither one of them had survived.  They say that they’ve—that they’ve been down there for days now.  Shawn, he’s dead.”
         Shawn fell silent as he listened to her crying over the phone. He didn’t know what to say to her. 
         “Shawn are you still there?”
         “Yeah I’m here still,” he said.  “How is this possible, Mike was the best driver I ever knew.  He could drive in any condition at any height without even a sweat breaking.  Do they know yet what caused the car to go over?”
         “No but they are working on it.”
         “Are you still in Philly?” he asked.
         “Yeah, we’re trying to get a flight out of here now so that we can get up there.”
         “Listen, we have a set of planes over there.  Let me talk to my bosses and I’ll get them to charter one for you so that the two of you can get out here as soon as possible.  Give me an hour and I’ll give you a call back with the details.”
         “Thank you so much, Shawn.  I knew that you were the right person to call.  I can see why you were Mike’s best friend.”
         “Mike was my best friend to.  So don’t worry I’ll take care of everything.”
         “Thank you again,” she said, hanging up afterwards.
         “What the hell happened Mike?”
*        *        *        *
         When he got home his dog and cat instantly came running up to him, but he pushed them away and went directly downstairs too the basement.  Jean was out with the kids for a while and this was the perfect time to check on the candle.
         He went to the far corner of the room where there was a lot of clutter that he knew Jean would never had touched.  He moved the stuff all around until he got to the chifforobe where he kept all his memorabilia.  He unlocked it and now the only thing in it was the candle.  When he had first placed it in there four years ago he had expected it to immediately burn out but it never did, so he decided it would be the perfect place to hide it from Jean.  He took it out and looked at it.  It had now been reduced to no more than half an inch.  He had tried so hard over the last couple of months to attach more wax to it but nothing would stick.  Now it was dwindling more and more and his fear about what the old lady had told him was building up inside of him.
         He had even went back to see the old Asian lady last month but she had no more to tell him than what she had already told him.  She told him again that there was no turning back: that whatever the candle had in store for him, it would happen very soon.  He had promised her all kinds of money to help him, but she said that money was no longer going to help him no matter how much he had to give.
         “None of this is real.  Everything that has happened to us is not because of this candle.  We made our lives better by working together, so this flame has nothing to do with anything.  I’m going to blow it out now and when I do everything is going to remain the same.”
         He placed his mouth parallel to the flame.  As he was about to blow it out he heard the front door upstairs open and close.  He quickly placed the candle back in its hiding place and locked the doors.  Placing back the clutter, he heard the basement door open.
         “Shawn, are you down there?” Jean asked.
         “Yeah, honey, I’m here.”
         “What are you doing down there?”
         “Just going through some old stuff to see if its time to get rid of any of it.”
         “Good,” she said.  “Its about time you start doing that.  Well I had ordered some sushi, steak and lobster for us and its on the table now if your ready for dinner.
         “That sounds great.  I’ll be up there in one moment.”
         “Okay,” she said as she left him alone.
         Shawn stared at the wardrobe closet and thought of blowing the candle out now but he decided to wait after dinner.
*        *        *        *
         As Shawn laid next to a sleeping Jean, he thought back to the sex they had just had.  It was amazing like it had been for the last four years.  Every time it felt like it was the first time.
         It was near ten o’ clock and sleep was getting a hold of him.  He thought about going downstairs to check on the candle, but he was too exhausted to get up.  So instead he laid there thinking of ways to stop the flame from going out.  As he closed his eyes, he promised himself that he would figure out something tomorrow.  And after a few minutes, he was completely out.
         Downstairs in the basement, the flame on the candle began flickering like it was in the wind.  After a little while of this, it got lower and lower on the wick until it was so far down that it was nothing but a speck.  After a couple more seconds the flame had extinguished itself completely.
*        *        *        *
         Jean heard something that caused her to sit straight up in bed.  She looked at the digital clock to her left and it read ‘4:35.’  She then realized that Sean wasn’t lying next to her.
         “Shawn?” she said.
         With no response, she turned her body to the edge of the bed and placed her slippers on.  She looked at the wall in front of her and saw a silhouette coming from the hallway light.  When she turned around, she saw Shawn standing there holding something behind his back.
         “Shawn are you all right?” she asked. 
         He didn’t answer her.  He just kept staring back at her.
         “Shawn, what’s wrong?  What do you have behind your back?”
         She reached for the light next to her bed and before she turned it on she paused for a second not knowing why.  When she did click it on, she looked back at Shawn and her eyes opened wide as she tried to scream with nothing coming out.
         Shawn was covered from his chest to his legs in what she immediately knew was blood.  She tried to get up but her legs weren’t responding.  After another second she gained her voice back.
         “Shawn what have you done?!  Where are the kids?!” she screamed frantically.
         Her legs finally responded to her commands and she jumped out of bed and ran to the door, pushing Shawn out of the way.  She didn’t even look back to see if he was following her.  She had to check on the kids.  When she stepped in their room, her knees instantly buckled and she fell to the ground. 
On various parts of the wall and the floor there were blotches of blood stain.  And when she looked over at the kids’ bed, both beds were covered in blood with a bulge under each of the comforters.
“No!”
         She crawled over to the first bed, Isabel’s, and used the bed to pull herself up.  When she was up, she looked at her hands and they were covered in blood.  She looked down at the comforter and took in a deep breath before she reached her hand down and pulled it away.
         Underneath was their cat, Muffles, completely mangled up like he had gotten in a fight with a bunch of cats and lost miserably.  There were long, deep scratch marks all throughout his body where once his black fur had been.  One ear was being held on by a string of skin.  His eyes looked like they had been sliced down the middle.  And his mouth had been stretched out to the size of his head.
         She felt relief that it wasn’t Isabel which gave her the strength to take the step over to Shawn Jr.’s bed.  Once again she stared down at it before she ripped the comforter off.
         “Oh my God.”
         It was their golden retriever, Max, but it didn’t look like him at all.  His whole body was red from the blood.  His face had been smashed in so much that it looked completely flat.  He had been gutted and his innards laid next to him.  As soon as she removed the comforter some of it fell to the floor with a squishing sound.           
She heard a rustling sound and she turned towards the door to see Shawn standing there with an axe in his hand.
         “WHERE ARE THE KIDS?!”
         He didn’t answer but he inched his way into the room.  Jean grabbed an Optimus Prime figurine off the bed stand and threw it at him but it just bounced off his head like it was nothing.
         “SHAWN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!  I’M YOUR WIFE!  WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”
         He was no more than five steps away from her.  He lifted the axe in the air and before he was able to bring it down on her, she kicked him in the groin.  He dropped the axe and bent over in pain.  She dashed at him and pushed him down.  She ran out the room and slammed the door behind her.
         Running downstairs, she screamed for Shawn Jr. and Isabel but there was no sound anywhere of them.  The only thing she heard was the door upstairs opening and Shawn walking out of the room.
         She picked up her step and ran to the front door.  A large board covered the door and the looking glass next to it.  She tried to pull it off but it wasn’t budging.  She now heard him walking down the stairs.  She desperately looked around and saw that all the windows were barred close with the same thick board.  Now she saw Shawn half way down the stairs and she dashed out of the living room into the kitchen.  All the windows and doors were barred in there also.
         She instantly began going through all the drawers, but everything had been stripped empty.  There was nothing in there that she could use as a weapon—even the multitude of pots she owned had disappeared.  She rushed out of the kitchen into the den and everything in there had been smashed up like in the kids’ room.
         “Oh my god…oh my god this can’t be happening.”
         She heard the door into the kitchen open and soon after, Shawn’s footsteps.
         She dashed back to the stairs and as she was able to look around more, she realized that everything in the house had been smashed.  Without a second thought, she ran back upstairs and back to her room.  She ripped out the drawers and still there was nothing.  She ran to the bathroom and wrapped a towel around her elbow and a second later she smashed her elbow into the medicine cabinet’s mirror.  The mirror shattered into pieces and taking the towel off, she grabbed the biggest piece and placed the towel around the end of the widest part.
         Steps were coming towards the bathroom door.
         She slammed the door shut and locked it as she saw Shawn a foot away from it.  She stepped away from the door clutching on to the piece of mirror.  She looked up at the bathroom window and saw that it had also been covered with a board. 
         When the hell did he have a chance to do all of this?  I couldn’t have been sleeping that hard.  God please let the kids be all right.  Please God.
         After a minute of not hearing anything, she edged herself near the door and placed her ear on it.  She still didn’t hear anything and she wasn’t going to take the chance of unlocking the door.  As she stepped away from the door, a knock came from it: a knock that seemed like it was nothing but a neighbor coming over and wanting to borrow some sugar.  It was continuous and each one seemed to get louder and louder until she knew that it was the butt of the axe that he was slamming into the door.
         Through the noise she heard a faint noise, something that she recognized but couldn’t remember what it was.
         “I’m on my way, I’m on my way.  Home sweet home.”
         “Shawn’s phone,” she said as the loud knocking stopped.
         She looked around the bathroom hoping that the music would keep playing.  As it stopped, she lifted up the toilet seat to find it submerged in the water.
         “Please work,” she said as she plunged her hand into the water and took it out.
         She pressed the power button but the screen remained blank.  Turning it around and taking out the battery she could feel the water dripping out of it.
         It was ringing so it has to be working some how.
         She blew on the battery and then blew into the phone.  During this whole time it had remained silent on the other side of the door.  However, Jean wasn’t paying attention to anything but the phone.  So when the knob of the door was turning, she didn’t notice at all.  As she placed the battery back into the phone she noticed that the door was opening.
She stepped back and the tub stopped her from moving any more.  She grabbed her makeshift weapon and placed the phone in her pajama pants pocket. 
         Shawn fully opened the door outward and before he had a chance to take a step inside, she plunged the piece of mirror into his left side.
         He screamed in pain and clutched at the mirror with his free hand.  Jean quickly sidestepped him and ran out the door.  Before he had a chance to turn around, she lunged at him and pushed him into the bathroom and into the tub face first.  As Shawn was trying to get out of the tub, she reached down and grabbed the nearest piece of mirror and went to stab him again.  This time—even in the peculiar position he was in—he swung the axe backwards with his right hand striking her in the arm that she had the mirror in.  She dropped the mirror and screamed.
         In what seemed like one motion, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her wound and ran out of the bathroom.  As she ran, the towel quickly soaked up with blood causing droplets of it to fall to the floor.  Dizziness began taking over and she felt like she was going to pass out, but she was too determined to find her kids.  Passing out was not going to be an option.
         She ran down the stairs not knowing where else to go but the basement.  As soon as she got in there, she unscrewed the halogen bulb that was planted on the side wall.  After she slowly closed the door, she eased her way down the stairs holding on to the now drenched towel.
         Tears were streaming down her face from the pain she was feeling. She had no place to run and no more ideas.
         THE PHONE.
         She took the phone out of her pocket and pressed the ON button praying that it would work.  But the same thing happened as before—the screen remained blank.
         “Just when things went right/ Doesn’t mean they’re always wrong/ Just take this song and you’ll never feel/ Left all alone.” 
         She pressed every part of the phone but nothing would respond.  After another minute the phone stopped.
         “DAMN!”
         She was about to throw the phone into the wall but she quickly stopped herself and placed it back in her pocket. 
“Why didn’t I look around here first before I busted the light?” she said, placing her hands out and walking through the dark.
         “Mommy.  Daddy.  Are you out there?”
         It was Isabel.
         A new burst of energy surged through her as she heard her daughter’s voice.
         “Izzie, where are you?”
         “I don’t know Mommy, but it’s really dark in here.”
         “Is Shawn Jr. with you?” she asked praying that she would say yes.
         “Yes, Mommy but he’s sleeping.  He was snoring so loud that he woke me up.”
         She couldn’t help but smile at that.
         “Mommy is going to find you really soon, sweetheart.  Can you do Mommy a favor and sing for Mommy?”
         “What do you want me to sing, Mommy?”
         “Sing about Old Macdonald, honey.”
         “Okay.  I love that song.”
         “I know you do sweetheart.  Now sing it for me and don’t stop until I find you.”
         “Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O/ And on his farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O—”
         Jean listened to her daughter sing as she struggled through the darkness to find her.  After a minute she went crashing into a bunch of stuff.  She knew instantly that this was Shawn’s things that he had refused to throw away.  She heard Isabel closer and she began throwing the stuff to the side.  The pain in her arm was increasing but she refused to stop.  There was so much noise that she knew that Shawn would be coming down there in no time.  But she wasn’t about to give up.  Her children had been found and she was determined as ever that they were all going to leave the house alive.
         ”—Everwhere a moo-moo/ Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O.
         “How was that Mommy?”
“It was fantastic, Izzy.  Do you hear me coming for you?”
“Yes Mommy, but its still so dark.  Why isn’t Daddy helping you?”
“Daddy is very sick,” she said while still throwing aside all the debris.  “We’re going to have to stay away from Daddy for a long time or we are going to get sick to.”
“Why can’t the doctors make him better?”
So close.
“There’s nothing that can cure your Daddy except time, Izzy, and we’re going to have to give him all the time that he needs.”
She threw away what she thought was the last thing and when she placed her hands out she felt the two doors of Shawn’s chifforobe.  She moved her hands downward and felt two padlocks connecting the doors together.
“NO!”
“Mommy, what’s wrong?  Why aren’t you getting us out of here?”
“Honey I have to go and find the keys.  And I think that your Daddy has them.  Now can you be a brave girl and be very quiet and watch your brother until I get back.”
“I can, but I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Now listen, Izzy, this is the only time I will ever give you permission to go in your undies.”
“But that’s disgusting.  Why can’t you just ask Daddy for the keys and get us out of here?”
“That’s what I’m going to do, but like I told you before I have to be very careful with Daddy so that I don’t get sick either.
“So do you think that you can hold it a little bit longer so that I can go and talk to Daddy?”
“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything.”
“If you happen to go in your undies, I will not be mad.”
“You promise.”
“I promise.  Now be very quiet and Mommy will be right back.  I’m going to go and have a talk with your Dad.”
“Try not to get sick.”
“Oh, I won’t, honey.”
One of the things she had felt while moving Shawn’s stuff was his old baseball bat.  She now picked it back up and held it in front of her as she walked back to where she thought the stair were.
As she got to the stairs, the door opened and Shawn stood at the doorway like he did what seemed to Jean centuries ago when she had woken up.
“Shawn please listen to me,” she said loud enough for only his ears to hear.  I need the key to the closet where you placed the children.  If you don’t give me the key, I will get them from you anyway possible. I don’t know what has happened to you, but I am tired of running away.  You are going to have to kill me before you take one step in here.  And believe me, if you haven’t realized it yet, killing me is going to be far more difficult than you planned.”
While she was speaking, Shawn didn’t move until she mentioned that he had to kill her and even then the only movement he did was to place his axe in her vision.
“It’s your choice, Shawn.  You can either give me the key and let us go or—”
Before she finished, he took a step into the basement.
She had realized beforehand that his visibility wasn’t as great as hers.  And she used that to her advantage as she saw the mirror still sticking out of his side.  Before he was able to take a second step down, she ran up the steps in two and swung the bat with her only good hand right where the mirror was at.  Most of the mirror smashed into pieces but some of it went further into his side.
He screamed louder than he did in the bathroom.  He dropped the axe over the stairs to the floor.  Jean turned her head to look at it and he backhanded her across the face causing her to sprawl down the stairs.  When she struck the bottom, she shook her head trying to regain her bearing but before that happened, Shawn was on top of her punching her in the face with both his hands.  She felt herself losing consciousness, but she tried her hardest to take the pain and stay awake.  After two more hits she felt that she couldn’t do anything any more.  Thoughts about what he would do to the kids began flowing in her head.  She couldn’t let that happen.
With the pain in her arm not even noticeable anymore, she moved her right hand as Shawn continued punching her.  With her eyes in slits, she saw where the blood was flowing out from his wound.  She took her hand and jammed it inside of him until the mirror sliced through her fingers.  He clutched to his side and fell backwards causing her to pull out her hand.  She slowly stood up using the banister to help her.  She limped over to where she knew the axe had fallen.  As Shawn was still on the floor writhing in pain, she bent down and searched for the axe.  After about five seconds she found it.  When she lifted up the handle, it felt like it weighed more than her so she dragged it back where the light from upstairs showed her Shawn still on the floor. 
She looked down at him and for a second she was able to see his eyes and they weren’t the same eyes that she had been seeing in him during this whole chaos.  They were the eyes of a sane, loving husband and father.  But they were only there for a second before they switched back to the man who had been trying to kill her.
She held on to the banister with her bad hand as she lifted the axe high in the air with her other.  Her body began vibrating from the weight of the axe.  Not pausing at all, she let the axe fall striking Shawn in the middle of his head.  His head fell back to the floor and he no longer moved.
Jean limped upstairs using the banister to help her all the way.  She opened the pantry door, thanking God that Shawn had not destroyed anything inside of it.  Hanging on the wall was a flashlight.  She grabbed that and went back down the stairs.
She turned it on and the thing lit up the whole room.  She shined it at Shawn who still laid where she had left him.  She went through his pockets but couldn’t find a key.
“Where is it, you bastard?!”
She turned him over and there was no key there either.  Finally she decided to strip him and hope that the key was there somewhere.
“Mommy, are you out there?”
“Yes, honey, I’ll be there in a moment to get you out.”
“I really have to go, and Shawn Jr. is starting to wake up.”
“Give Mommy one more minute and I’ll be there.”
“Hurry up.  Please Mommy.”
When she unbuttoned his shirt, she saw a chain hanging from his neck with a key.  She ripped it off and shuffled as fast as she could to the closet.
She opened the door and a whiff of urine struck her face first.
“I’m sorry Mommy, I couldn’t hold it any longer.”
“That’s all right, sweetheart.  Don’t worry,” she said as she held both of them in her arms.
“Mommy, why ain’t I in my bed,” Shawn Jr. asked sleepily.  “And where’s Daddy?”
“You’ll be back in your bed soon, my love.  And your Daddy had to leave for a bit but he’ll be back.”
She squeezed them even harder as she looked back at where Shawn laid.
“Mommy, you’re hugging me too tight,” Shawn Jr. said.
She released them and shined the flashlight all over them, and she was so grateful that nothing was wrong with either of them.
“What’s that in your back pocket, Shawn Jr.?” she asked stopping the flashlight on something that looked like an envelope.
She pulled it out of his pocket and ripped it open.
As she read it, she had a hard time believing what she was reading.
Dear Jean,
If you’re reading this then something bad has happened to me, and I know that it was my fault.  And I hope you won’t blame yourself for what you possibly might’ve had to do.  I hope that you and the kids are safe.
Everything that has happened is because of a candle I purchased years ago.  The purpose of this candle was to fix our marriage, which it did plus some.  As long as the candle stayed lit, we were promised a perfect life.  But I took it knowing that there was a payment that I would have to pay in order to get the candle.  So I bought the candle even though I knew the punishment.
Last night after we went to bed I had a horrible nightmare in which I saw myself killing both you and the kids.  So having a feeling that it was all going to come true I gave the kids a couple of sleeping pills and placed them in this closet down here and locked it up before anything happened.
I’m going to go upstairs now and try to let you know all of this and I hope to get there before anything starts changing in me.
Jean I love you and the kids with all my heart and I did all of this for you.  Whatever I do I hope you please forgive me.
Good bye my love.
Shawn
         Jean read the letter two more times before she crumbled it up and threw it where the other trash was lying
         “Come on kids, let’s get out of here.”