Crazy in Love

**Occasionally, I write short stories. This particular one is not for the faint at heart. For those of you wondering, the book is nothing like this.

Crazy in Love 

by Nely Cab

"I loved her," I said. "She was the one I was meant to be with forever." That was the only plea I could think of.

April was a brunette with a wonderful sense of humor. She was a fine cook and a beautiful woman. She held the greatest attributes that a man could ask.

One summer day, she said she was leaving me. I knew we had our ups and downs, but this didn't mean it had to end. I could change. I could be whatever she wanted me to be. She said I hadn't failed her, that she was just not in love with me anymore. 

I had never cried in front of her, but this time, I couldn’t contain myself. I felt torn, frantic, and lost.

Holding her by the arms, I pled with her to stay.

"No," she said that single syllable word that crushed me.

I hugged her and pled with her some more.

"Please, April!" I was desperate to find a way to keep her, but she was intransigent.

There I sat, on the kitchen table, staring into the nothingness that my life had become in but one moment.

"Have you thought about the children, April? Have you given thought to what you're doing to them?" I wondered.

"I'm not taking the children, Ed. I don't have any means to support them," she replied.

Could she be seeing another man? I stood from my seat and shook her. "Who is he?!" I demanded.

"It's not a he…" she pushed me away, “it’s a she.”

I was in disbelief. What on earth had this woman, who I had been married to for seven years, turned into? I felt belittled. The pain of betrayal consumed me.

"You're insane!" I turned her around and slapped her. "You're not leaving me or the children. Do you understand?"

April tightened her fist and took a right hook at my face. I stopped her fist before it struck me. I tensed my grip on her small hand with such force that she fell to her knees. I grabbed her by the face and kissed her against her will. She bit my lip so deep, that I felt her teeth cut into the skin. The bitter taste of blood spread through my mouth.

I grabbed her by the hair and pulled her away from me. She slapped me, repeatedly, with all her might.

"Bastard!" She wept as she wiped my blood off her chin. "I detest you for making me into a wife and a mother. I detest you for making me cook and clean. I curse you for being a man."

April stood in the middle of the room, her loathing stare burning through me. 

My ego was in shreds. I had never heard her voice such wicked and hurtful things about the life I had prided myself to give her.

I walked to her slowly. I extended one arm and clenched her by the neck. She gasped and tried eagerly to pry my fingers from her throat. I saw her eyes redden and glisten with moisture. Her face turned red; then, slowly, it became pallid.

She fought hard to escape my grip, but I couldn't make myself release her. Her body slightly jerked, before her eyes rolled back into her sockets. Finally, she stopped breathing. Her body was limp. I let it fall onto the kitchen floor, next to the table.

I heard laughter coming from the backyard. Our two children had been playing outside the whole time.

My eyes glanced between the backdoor and April’s body.

What had I done? I had murdered the love of my life and mother of my children.

Nervously, I took April’s body to our bedroom and lay her on the bed. She looked as if she were fast asleep, aside from the discoloration in her face.

I went downstairs and prepared some chocolate milk for the children, along with a very strong dose of sleeping medication.

“Kids!” I called them into the house.

I handed them each a glass to drink, making sure they consumed every drop. Then, I sent them to play in their rooms.    

 Tormented and drowning in guilt, I wept in the bathroom awaiting silence to take the place of my children's innocent voices.

Within fifteen minutes they were both asleep on the floor of their bedrooms. I placed them beside their mother on our matrimonial bed and rummaged through the night table drawer. There,I found my gun.

Loading the handgun,I stood before my three little angels knowing exactly what I had to do to be together forever.

My hand trembled each time I pulled the trigger, shooting each of us in the head.

Suddenly, I felt myself rising and hovering over our four dead bodies.

They came for me quickly. 

I was taken to a place of darkness and despair. A place where there was only cold and gloom. It was a place where no one looked into the other’s eyes, and no one spoke.

I was taken to trial and asked only one question:

"What have you to say on your behalf, man?"

"I loved her,” I said. “She was the one I was meant to be with forever." That was the only plea I could think of.

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