A Well Gone Dry

Parameters:
1000 words
Seven objects
Small enclosed area
Interior thoughts only
One character can speak (a voice message)
Discovery that leads to a conflict
No Names
Start plot mid action
Tie in a famous quote

A Well Gone Dry
He knew.  I could tell by how he looked at me as I walked in the door of our tiny studio apartment. He just sat on the couch leaning forward with his hands on his knees, his cell phone between his legs. His head had been hanging down but at the sound of my keys, he’d looked up, but he didn’t get up to greet me with his usual hug. He didn’t smile as he usually did as if my coming home was a pleasant surprise to him. Instead, he looked all the world like a man defeated. There was no anger in his expression.  No contempt in his eyes. His demeanor only held the exposed emotions of sadness and defeat. 

My eyes left his face for a moment as I quickly scanned the room for clues, anything that may have given me away. Because the room was nearly bear, it only took a moment to see that nothing was out of place. There was the usual – TV, plant, chair, coffee table with a remote and magazines on it. My eyes zeroed in on his phone. Did someone call him to tip him in on what had been going on? 

I knew I’d messed up. But how? My mind rushed about.  When did I not cover my tracks?  I had deleted all the texts. I only received those secret phone calls when he wasn’t around.  I made sure of that.  When I did receive a text in front of him, I knew to play it off. Sure, he had asked who it was a couple of times but I had responded to him that it was my job. Then I would leave, pretending something had come up at work that I needed to handle.

Sometimes I didn’t answer the texts right away, as if they were unimportant to me. I would wait a little while, then nonchalantly take a glance at my phone. If I needed to make a return phone call, I’d slip off into another room, being sure to talk low so that he couldn’t hear my intimate conversations.

Was it my extended ‘Night out with the girls’ that tipped him off? I had stressed to him that men had such things so why couldn’t women. Either way that couldn’t be it, because he never really had a problem with that. He trusted me. The guiltiness of the thought caused an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach as I looked at him silently.  Yeah.  He trusted me.

We stared at each other.  As I stood with my coat still on, my purse slipped from my shoulder to the crook of my arm. Reaching for it, I noticed that my cell phone didn’t have my dark blue strap attached; it had his black strap attached.  He watched me as I slowly grasped the mistake I’d made. I stopped my movements in mid-air as I looked again at the cell phone on the floor between his legs. It was mine’s. I had grabbed his cell phone by mistake and left mine here…for him to answer. By my paused actions, he knew I was aware that I was now caught in my game.
Without taking his eyes off me, he picked up my phone, pressed the voicemail button, pressed the speaker button, and held it out so that I could hear the saved messages.

“Baby, I’m sorry to hear about your mom. What about tomorrow night instead? Call me when you get this.”
The next message, “Listen, I know you said you need to take care of things at home tonight, but I really need to see you”. 

I didn’t even want to see the texts that were sent tonight while I was with my mom. I had an idea of how they would read. I swallowed hard as I realized that more than likely the two had talked to each other.

After what seemed like so many moments of silence, I closed my eyes for a moment, not wanting to imagine the conversation that went on between the two, wanting to shut out this unwanted play of events. Opening them, I stood very still, as if even my slightest movement would cause painful consequences. I opened my mouth to speak but my voice and thoughts failed to cooperate. I couldn’t piece together any small speck of explanation. There were no justifiable words that I could voice to fix this. 

How many times did I say I would end my wanderings? There was a certain thrill out of the secret meets that I had liked. Even so, I knew it was temporary and my future was here. Living two separate lives gave me an unhealthy fulfillment that had kept me going back, without any thought to the detriment of my marriage.

Silently, he stood and extended my phone to me. I walked over and hesitantly took it from him.  At the touch of my fingers, he pulled back slightly, as if I was too tainted to touch.

We stood face to face now. I could see movement on the side of his jaw as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. Would he hit me?  No.  I knew better than that. His eyes traveled across my face as if memorizing my features. Then his eyes settled back on mine, seeking answers even though he refused to ask any questions. Suddenly he stepped back. I flinched slightly at the sudden movement. He dug into his jean pockets and pulled out something wrapped in tissue. Walking back to me he placed it in my hands, pulled his keys out of his pocket, and he was gone without a word.

I stood there for a while before I realized that I still hadn’t taken off my coat. As I slowly unfolded the tissue, his ring fell to the floor.  As I bent to pick it up, I knew at that moment that just like the saying, my well had just gone dry. 

Tammy A