I watched her from the opposite side of the room. My sister was sat across from me on the lounge chair, while I was perched upright on the sofa beneath the window. With a slurp, she sucked up her late lunch joyfully. Brenda’s love for fried noodles always puzzled me. Why this hippo felt the desire to shovel that stuff into her mouth on a regular basis, I would never know.
I turned and looked outside to distract myself, if only I didn’t have to be here today. I should have been with Thomas instead, that would have been a much better way to spend my afternoon. It didn’t seem that long ago that we'd be laughing together in the coffee shop, chattering back and forth about the recent calamities at work. We’d later take an evening drive to nowhere, hunting for a place to catch a meal. How I’d love to be there, not here. Sadly though, that would be impossible, since Thomas was now gone. He had died in a car accident last year.
The two of them had been driving late on a nearby country road. They’d hit an oncoming vehicle which was traveling way too fast. His death was instantaneous, but the driver had managed to survive. Thomas and his secret woman … they’d been having a sordid love affair.
To discover this infidelity following the news of his death, it was just far too much. I had been his wife for seven years, so it would be correct to assume that I was rather distraught by all of this. Thomas’ life had been extinguished in a second, while his mistress had survived to carry on living. Meanwhile, my life was left in tatters.
Floating in confusion, I’d push myself into madness as I ruminated on it all. Thinking back, there were a few times I’d nearly caught them in the act. I’d thought nothing of it at the time, and she was the last person I’d expect him to get involved with. It’s not exactly clear how long the affair had been going on, not that it really made much difference at all. Though, part of me wanted to know every little detail.
As is usually the case in circumstances such as these, I’d been dragged down into the miserable depths of grievance. I had been through dreadful mourning, as one would tend to imagine. The whole ordeal had changed me. What was once my heartbreak had now mutated into an all-consuming bitterness.
Oh, there it was again, another slurp. I looked over to see that Brenda now had her face in the bowl, pouring the food straight into her mouth. It was no exaggeration to state that my sister’s table manners were atrocious. She always ate this way, like a pig whose grunting filled the room. Nevertheless, I’d consider her vulgarity as a compliment to my cooking.
When we were younger, our mother would cook up something very similar. She’d showed me how to perfect the process by adding spices here and there. Since that time, I had learned to prepare an abundance of recipes, so it wasn’t just noodles. Yet, it was only ever this one meal that Brenda asked for. Whenever I visited, she would always want the same old dish. It had become a family tradition, I suppose, and for a time I’d gladly oblige. Recently though, this incessant request had been wearing a little thin. However, since today was a special occasion of sorts, I found it much less bothersome.
Suddenly, there came an unpleasant sound of wheezing. Brenda wasn’t looking too well. Her face contorted and she dropped her bowl. She was choking now. Frothing at the mouth, with eyes bulging, her body was in total malfunction. First, she tried to stand, and then she fell onto her knees. Next, she was writhing like a maggot on the floor. This was a shock. I’d assumed she would die once I’d left.
I turned away, trying to distract myself. My gaze would now fixate on the world outside. I’d refuse to acknowledge the commotion beside me. Indeed, I may be forced to listen, but that didn’t mean I had to watch. Brenda moaned in agony. I think she was trying to say my name.
The window distractions worked like a charm, and my attention was caught by a passing family. Watching them make their way along the nearby riverbank, I noticed how blissful they were, not a care in the world. I felt stunned by the beauty of it all. This really was a lovely part of town. Brenda lived right next to a country park, and in today’s spring sunshine it was a particularly gorgeous scene. People were riding on their bicycles, and loved ones were walking hand in hand. All of this was truly a wonderful sight.
That could have been us, Thomas and I. We could have been that family, strolling through the park so happily. Not anymore, though. At first he’d gone astray, and now he was just gone.
None of this was fair. If that home-wrecker had stayed away from my husband, then he would still be alive. Or was this all because I should have tried harder? Had I failed at being his wife? Did he love her? If he were still alive, I’d have been able to ask him these things. For so long, how I would torture myself with such thoughts, even while clearly it changed nothing. The coldest fact was that I had been denied any option in the matter. I’d been barred from ever knowing what the future could have been.
Although, there was one thing I did happen to know for certain … It was Brenda who’d wrecked my marriage. My own flesh and blood, she was the reason my husband was dead. So, today was the day I’d sit right here, staring through this window. I listened while she choked to death on the noodles I’d just poisoned.
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