This Love Is Dead

I spent an entire day burning every trace of myself away.

Clothes, photos, anything that proved I had ever existed here. I left nothing behind.

My flight was tomorrow. After tomorrow, none of them would have anything to do with me.

Sharon still hadn't come home, but Curtis's constant taunts made one thing clear: She was busy exploring new positions with him.

As for Tasha, she treated me like I didn't exist at all.

I fulfilled my duty as a father one last time and cooked a full table of her favorite dishes.

When she got home from school, she snorted coldly, ordered takeout for herself, and didn't say a single word to me.

I sat there as the food went cold, watching the night deepen outside the window.

Sometime past midnight, faint sounds came from the door.

By the moonlight, I saw Sharon finally return, along with the man she loved most.

Her cheeks were flushed. She was wrapped around Curtis, clinging to him, chasing his mouth, her hands roaming without restraint.

Curtis held the back of her head and deepened the kiss, his other hand steady on her hips.

From the moment they came in, they were tangled together, breathless, careless, shedding clothes as they went.

In the middle of it, Sharon whispered softly, "Shh, don't wake my husband."

Curtis pulled her closer, jealousy thick in his voice as he nipped at her ear.

"Didn't you say I'm the only one you love? Didn't you say doing this right under Oliver's nose makes it more exciting? Didn't you say he's just a shield for our love? Then why do you call him your husband?"

Seeing his wounded look, Sharon softened immediately.

She kissed him again, soothing him as she held him close.

"Calling him that makes it more thrilling, doesn't it?"

Their whispers and gasps grew louder, each sound tearing open the wound that had already bled dry inside me.

I curled up on the couch, the air thick and sickening, my heart completely numb.

I didn't know how much time passed.

When they moved from the kitchen toward the living room and finally noticed me, Sharon's breathing faltered.

She covered Curtis's mouth, forced the desire from her eyes, and pulled him upstairs.

In the quiet of the night, only her low warning drifted down.

"Don't mess around. If Oliver finds out, he won't let it go. He's still Tasha's dad. We can't make things too ugly."

Much later, Sharon came downstairs and carefully draped a blanket over me.

That same intimate scent still clung to her. Her open collar was marked everywhere.

I stiffly pushed her hand away. She noticed something was wrong.

"Honey, what's wrong? Are you mad because I haven't been home these past few days?"

I shook my head bitterly. "No. I had a dream that you cheated on me."

She froze, panic flashing across her face. "What are you talking about? I swear, you're the only husband I'll ever have."

The disgust rose so sharply inside me that I couldn't speak. I turned my face away and curled in on myself, exhausted.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

I turned my back to her.

I didn't want to see her anymore.

When I woke up, I would finally be gone.