The Four Things - Chapter 2

A/N - Finally I'm getting a chance to update this. Of course I have about a billion other things I should be doing, but that's always what happens, right. Thanks for you reviews guys!

Chapter 2

Walter practically skipped up the steps to the tiny third floor apartment. He couldn’t wait to get home and see his wife. She was what kept him going every second of every day, and he loved her with all of his heart. He unlocked the door and headed inside, smelling the dinner that she had saved for him keeping warm in the oven, but wanting to say hello to her before he ate. He couldn’t wait to surprise her. The boss had let him out of work early with pay, as a bit of a holiday bonus. He looked all around the sitting room, dining room and kitchen and couldn’t find her, realizing at last that she must be in the bedroom. He grinned, hoping that maybe he would catch her in the act of changing into her nightgown, and that would make an already great night even better.

As he turned the doorknob of their bedroom, he swore he heard a masculine grunting noise. Knowing he must have been hearing things, and excited to surprise her, he swung the door open quickly, revealing, to his horror, his lovely wife in the arms of their fat old landlord.

Anger and hurt swelled inside him. Here he was, working double shifts almost every day and night so that he could put food on the table and a roof over their heads, and she had the nerve to cheat on him with this scum. Suddenly nausea overcame him, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at his wife. Instead he ran over to the bed and pulled the man off of her, and then swiftly turned to his side of the bed and grabbed the gun that lay beneath the mattress. His wife was looking at him now, pleading with him, but he couldn’t stand the sight of her. He took his first shot, hitting the landlord and he could her a cold laugh escape his lips. Then the second shot, hitting his wife in the neck. She gazed intently into his eyes during the last seconds of her life and he could barely hear her whispering the words, “I love you.” Then she was gone.

As he watched the life sink away from her, the anger was replaced with such an incredible sadness. What had he done? He had just murdered the only thing in his life that was good. Hot tears stained his bright red face as he pulled the old man off of her and to the floor, and lay down beside his wife. Her blood soaked the bed, and covered most of the pillow, but he pulled her close to him. “I love you Mary,” he cried into her hair as he raised the gun up and wrapped his lips around the gun.

*****

“Will, get up!” light filled his eyes as he was shaken awake, “I said get the fuck up!”

“Alright, alright,” Will sat up in the bed and looked at the blond girl in front of him, “Thanks for the lovely wake up call.”

“You’re welcome,” she sneered and raised an eyebrow into a bitchy expression and William rolled his eyes, deciding to blow off her behavior.

“I had that dream again. The one where…”

“Where you kill some whore and a fat guy and then kill yourself?” she interrupted him, “What else is new? And don’t think I don’t see you rolling your eyes at me,” she added after he did it again.

“Well maybe if you didn’t act so pleasant,” he pointed out sarcastically, “Why did you even come here Jamie?”

“That’s a really great question, William, and the answer is: I don’t fucking know. It’s not like you’re any fun to be around anymore. We used to have so much fun.”

“Well I’m so sorry that my injury puts a damper on your fun.”

“You should be. Not only do we not do anything fun anymore, but then I have to pass up fun things to come see you. I was invited to go shopping with Kim an d Lindsay, but I had to come to visit you.”

“Well boo fucking hoo to you. Aren’t I so privileged?”

They sat there in silence as the seconds passed, and then the minutes. Finally William spoke, “What happened to us?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie answered quietly, all of the sarcasm and bitchiness out of her voice, “We used to be so great.”

“We really were. And now we’re so… not great.”

“Can I be blunt?” Jamie asked, looking at him with big blue, heavily made up eyes.

“What’s ever stopped you in the past?”

She blew off the remark, “Listen Will, I don’t want to hurt you, but honestly I’ve been falling out of love with you for quite some time, and now that you’re in here it’s becoming harder and harder to pretend like I want this relationship to work.”

William took a deep breath, realizing suddenly that he felt the same way and he had for a while, “I know what you mean. It’s like I was so used to being with you that I didn’t question it, but now that you say that I know that I feel the same way.”

A slight smile flickered across her lips, “I’m glad we’re on the same page. So now we’re…?”

“Broken up? Yeah, I think its best,” he felt the sudden urge to grab her hand, and when he did they both laughed a little nervously.

There was a knock on the door and Micaela poked her head in, “Will, are you ready for the cooking group?” She noticed Jamie sitting on his bed, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you had company. Well you can just catch the next cooking group.”

“Actually I was just leaving,” Jamie said, pointing to the purse that was already hanging from her shoulder.

“Okay, I’ll just wait in the hall then,” Micaela closed the door behind her as she left the room.

“That was Mary… I mean Micaela. She’s my wi…I mean, my Recreation Therapist. Why did I just say that?”

“Were you about to say she’s you’re wife?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know why, it just slipped out.” His cheeks were red and he bit his bottom lip nervously.

To his surprise Jamie laughed, “Wow, it seems as though you’ve seen us as being broken up for quite some time now.”

“Jamie, it’s not like that,” he felt guilty and he didn’t know why. He had nothing to feel guilty about.

“No, it’s okay,” she touched his cheek gently, “I’ll see you around William. Have fun at your cooking group.” She left the room and spotted Micaela waiting a few feet down the hall, “Your husband’s waiting for you in there,” she smirked and pointed to the door before walking down the hallway.

Confused, Micaela decided to shrug off the comment as she entered the room. “Did you have a nice visit?”

“Yeah it was great,” he smiled up at her, “We broke up.”

*****

“I think Rock Star has a crush on you,” George laughed at Micaela as he walked into the Therapeutic Recreation office that afternoon. He and some of the other therapists had taken to calling William “Rock Star”, much to Micaela’s disapproval. They often did that, calling the patients names such as “Bald Dude” or “Freckled Girl” to avoid feeling close to their patients and being disappointed if they didn’t get better. Micaela liked to take a person-centered approach and took a very deep interest in all of her patients, feeling excited for them when they finally go to leave the facility, and feeling low with them when they didn’t do well. It was why she was one of the most popular therapists: people felt like they could connect with her.

“His name is William, and no he doesn’t.”

“He goes to all of your activities.”

“So does Mrs. Huff.”

“Mrs. Huff is an 82 year old woman who cooked, knit, did arts and crafts, had kids, kept a garden and watched jeopardy all of her adult life. It’s normal for her to want to go to cooking class, Sassy Stitchers, Arts and Crafts, Intergenerational Group, Garden Club and Trivia groups. It’s not normal for him. Normal guys don’t do all of those things.”

“That’s not true. That’s such a stereotype and you know it.”

“I’ll prove it to you. Come with me,” he pulled her out into the corridor and down the hall to William’s room, knocking before entering it, but leaving Micaela in the hall to listen, out of sight.

“Hey Will, just to let you know that I’m going to be running an impromptu knitting group this afternoon. You wanna come man?”

Will looked at him skeptically and made a face, “I don’t think so. Some of my friends are visiting later and I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”

“Alright, see you later,” George turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. “See?” he asked Micaela.

“His friends are coming, so of course he doesn’t want to come.”

George rolled his eyes. “Okay, watch this;” he opened the door back up and peeked his head in, “Oh, I forgot to tell you, Micaela’s going to be sitting in the group this afternoon with us.”

“What time did you say it was?”

“3:30.”

“I’ll see you at 3:30 then.”

George shut the door and turned to Micaela, an “I told you so” look in his eyes.

“I can’t believe you!”

“I’m sorry, it’s not my fault he likes you.”

“No, I can’t believe you just signed me up to do another group this afternoon. I have to do assessments! I don’t have time to run knitting.”

“Relax and just sit in on the group. I’ll run it and all you have to do is show up. You can sit in the corner and do your notes if you want.”

If looks could kill, George would’ve dropped dead right there.