Just one more little push in the right direction and everything would be okay.
All of his problems would be gone.
Delores, her affair and even his own.
“Do you remember what you did?” Michael asked, his tongue flicking over his lips like a serpent’s tongue. “Do you?” he waited a moment, before carrying on. “Shall I remind you?”
“Please don’t,” Delores begged. “Please, Michael. Please don’t make me think about it anymore.”
“Please what? You’re evil, Del, you should know exactly what you did,” Michael watched with satisfaction as Delores began to tremble. “You shouldn’t be allowed to forget what you did.”
“Please,” she begged again, though she knew it was futile. Michael always did as he pleased, especially where she was concerned. Some days she had wondered why he had married her at all. She was merely his lapdog, a slave to do whatever he pleased. She was barely a wife, and definitely not an equal.
Michael walked to the other side of the room, towards the window that overlooked the parking lot below. In the distance the sun had begun to set, a burning orange ember in the distance, casting its fiery glow over the world and setting it alight. The colors struck his face, both softening and hardening Michael’s features. It made him look contorted and strange.
“You phoned me, and asked me to come home. Do you remember that, Del?” he asked, still looking outside, his voice sounding faraway. “You said you’d done something bad.”
“Yes.”
“When I got home, you were already there, and I knew,” Michael turned away from the window to face Delores. “I knew right away, Del, I knew you’d done something bad.” He shook his head and swallowed. “The house was so quiet when I arrived, it wasn’t right. The kids normally run to the door shouting for me when I get home from work. They were always so happy to see me after being stuck with you all day. But not that day. I opened the door and went inside, and I could smell something, but I didn’t know what it was, not yet. I called for you, Del’, do you remember that? Do you remember me calling your name?”
‘…Delores, where are you?’…’
Delores nodded, her red-rimmed eyes brimming with over-spilling tears.
“Delores, Anabel, Owen, where are you?” Michael smiled as he spoke, the soft curve of his lips wrapping around the names. He took a step closer to Delores. “I called for you, and them, but no one came, Del’. Do you remember where I found you? Where I found them.”
Delores squeezed her eyes closed, forcing tears to bleed down her cheeks. She shook her head, trying to remember at the same time as she was trying to block out the images. She couldn’t remember. Yet she couldn’t forget. She was evil. She had no right to tears after what she’d done.
“I went into the lounge, but you weren’t there. ‘Delores,’ I called through the house, ‘Delores!’” Michael stepped closer, and the sun dipped lower. His body cast a black shadow over her bed, chilling her trembling body.
‘…Delores, Anabel, Owen.…’
“And there you were,” Michael said, his face an inch from hers. “There you were, do you remember, Del? Do you remember what you were doing?” His breath washed over her and Delores let out the sob she had been holding in.
“No,” she whispered. “No.”
And she didn’t. Try as she might, she didn’t remember. All she remembered was the feel of her children’s blood on her hands and Michael yelling at her. All she remembered was her guilt and the horror of what she had done. And Michael’s fiery sapphires burning into her.
“You were in the kitchen,”
“I was.”
“I put my briefcase down by the door, like I normally do.”
“Yes.”
“Say it. Remember it!”
Michael came into the kitchen, he placed his briefcase down on the floor by the kitchen door…like he normally does…
“You were facing the sink.”
“Yes.”
“I couldn’t see what you were doing because the kitchen island was in the way. I called your name.”
“Yes.”
