Mark never cared for Valentine’s Day.
He often said that, “If I don’t love you every other day, I’m not going to start now.”
It could have been that Valentine’s Day back in 1999 that did it.
Mark came home with champagne and chocolates to find his wife in bed with her new lover He stood in the doorway, speechless. They didn’t even notice him until he left and came back with the gun.
Later, Karen, in tears, helped him get rid of the body. Standing over the makeshift grave shaded by the forest on the back of their property, he asked, “what was his name?”
She looked at him, her eyes widening. “Would that make it better, for you to know who he is? Doesn’t that make it worse? He was nothing to me. I didn’t want you to know him. I hardly knew him myself.”
“It might matter,” Mark reasoned, “if he has a wife, kids, someone looking for him.”
That was what he said. Really, he only wanted to satisfy his own morbid curiosity. There Were all sort of things he wanted to know, which he doubted that she’d ever tell him. How had she met this guy? Why him? Why not the butcher or the local mechanic? He could not measure himself against the competition if he knew nothing about him.
“He was a loner,” Karen replied, still wiping tears from her eyes. “He didn’t live around here. I don’t think anyone will look for him.”
He nodded. They went back to their house; back to their lives, and never did either mention it again. After that, Karen never cheated, that he knew of. There came a time now and again when she made love to him, but it was never the same. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, the doctors did not understand why she did not fight. She was in her thirties, a vital woman, with apparently everything to live for. Every therapy, no matter how advanced, didn’t work.
She followed her lover into death. Karen was given a proper funeral, with a large turnout of family and friends. Mark was alone with his grief, amidst all the people that wanted to comfort him. He knew the truth; that guilt about what she had done - what they both did - had curled up in her body and manifested itself as disease. It was not something that he could talk about. Now the last thing that bound them , their biggest secret, was his burden alone.
By the time Valentine’s Day rolled around again, he’d been a widower for three months. He had no idea how he should mark the occasion, but it seemed that it was only appropriate to do something. He bought himself an expensive bottle of wine and a box of Cuban cigars.
He sat on the back porch of his house, where he could watch the twilight shimmer through the trees. Drinking, smoking, and feeling utterly content, it took him a while to realize that he was being watched.
He tried to sit up, but the half the wine bottle was gone by then and his head was loopy. One shadow detached itself from the darker shadows in the trees. The figure was tall and thin. His face seemed not right, though at first, Mark couldn’t place why.
Part of the man’s head was missing.
“Who are you?” he cried.
The man smiled. “You want my name now do you? She says you never wanted to know.
Well, she thought it would be better for you. My name is Frank. You remember, don’t you?”
He searched his memory… there was only one man he could think of with that name.
“You worked for me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, and you fired me.” He made a gesture with his hand toward his head. “Twice.”
Mark laughed at the dead man’s joke. And then his eyes welled with tears. He was hoping the figure would disappear. But, he didn’t.
“I just wanted you to know, I have no hard feelings. I lived in fear that you would find out about me and Karen. I just want you to know, I really did love her. Sleeping with her was not revenge. I have some revenge for you. I am not going to leave you alone.”
“Yes you will,” Mark screamed. “I’ll sell this house. I’ll burn your bones.”
Frank laughed. “Won’t matter. I’m going to follow you wherever you go,” he bent down, and whispered in Mark’s ear. “It’s the least I can do.” His breath was rank, cold, and thick as fog off the beach. “You have to be paid back for taking me from the one I loved.”
___
© 2009 Lori Titus
Lori Titus’s The Marradith Ryder Series appears in episodes on Flashes in the Dark. Many of her short stories appear on MicroHorror.com, DemonMinds.com, and Shadeworks.org. An upcoming story will also be featured as a pod cast on SFZine.org. For more information see her at http://www.myspace.com/talesforthedark.
Tags: Lori Titus
March 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Neat tale. Nobody gets off easy here. However, Mark is fortunate that he’s only gonna be haunted by Frank. Imagine if Karen came back and got on his case by screaming stuff in his other ear? Whew!
March 6th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Great voice and flow with a terriffic ending.
–dj
March 6th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Very eerie! Good stuff!
March 6th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Thanks! I’m glad you guys are enjoying it..