Fake

“Honey, I’m home!”

The front door of the house opened along with a loud greeting from her husband. The lights were off and the room was as dark as a dungeon. He entered the house with fleeting heartbeat. Though what welcomed him was not his wife, but a chaotic, messy room as if a burglar just stormed inside. Everything was a mess.

He tiptoed with the lightest steps and said, “Honey?”

From the couch, there he saw his wife, Roanne. He can feel the dejectiveness of her from the back. Her head was dropped down and it was plain obvious of how miserable she was. He approached him with cautious. As he stood behind her, there he finally saw how his wife’s condition by that moment. Her legs were trembling and each thump of her feet onto the floor made his burgeoning anxiousness grew further.

“Honey? Is there something wrong?”

The bouquet he was latching to the whole time crumpled by his tightening clutches. He was anxious and worried. The thought of something bad that he might did without him knowing gradually brainwashed his mind. He slowly extended his arm from behind and his wife flinched in surprise with just his light touch on her shoulder.

“You’re home?”

Without looking back, the wife wiped her tears as she abruptly stood up. Indeed, she was crying and the husband instantly realized that.

“What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

His voice was worriedly trembling. From behind, he panickedly dropped the bouquet he was holding and gently wrapped her in his warm embrace. He gently hushed her in her every sob. Her cries filled the empty silence in that depressing darkness around them.

“It’s okay now, it’ll be okay. I’m already here …”

His words were reassuring as he kept repeating it with sincerity attached. He gently caressed her hair and teared up from just seeing the result of his wife’s exponential change for the past week.

The wife cried for a long time. He lended his chest and let his wife cry her chest out until she calmed down and relaxed. He did not know what was the main reason as to why his wife became like that. He did not bother asking instead, he waited for her to open up with him. Minutes have passed and her sobs gradually subsided.

He asked and said, “Are you okay now?”

He anticipated for her to answer however, his wife just pulled herself back without uttering a word and headed towards the kitchen sink. Even if his heart ached to see her like that, afraid of what will happen next, without uttering a word, he also just watched her acting strange like that.

The wife opened the faucet and the loud water surging occupied the next silence. Despite them married, that time was overall awkward for only just him. She just stood still in front of the sink under the unbearable silence without even doing anything.

“Honey? Tell me please, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

He called out with a frantic voice and slowly bent down as he picked up the crumpled bouquet he dropped on an impulse. Holding the poor flowers, he approached her and desiringly hugged her from behind. It was his last resort to calm his wife; a warm and sincere affection from him.

As his embrace gradually tightened, “What’s wrong? Tell me …” he whispered very softly beneath her ear.

“I’m just tired …” She weakly responded.

Staying like that, he casually showed and handed her a bouquet of wolf’s bane. He thought everything was already smoothly sailing, but he was wrong. The flowers he thought that could make his wife’s mood lighten up turned out to be the trigger for her sudden frenziness.

Seeing the flowers, his wife, Roanne forcibly struggled to free herself from his tight embrace. Holding the bouquet of wolf’s bane, she frustratingly cried and yelled a shriek as she bashed the flowers onto him. The petals rained like cherry blossoms. However, unlike how warm and beautiful it was, the feeling was totally different. It wasn’t the feel of spring but rather winter. The petals falling wasn’t warm and amiable but rather cold and sharp as he felt constant emotional pain in his chest. It was not beautiful; rather, it was bleak and austere. As if, she was frightened and disgusted by him. The feeling of being cast away instantly tortured his very soul.

She dropped the flowerless bouquet and shakily stuttered, “Do you really want me to die that badly?”

Roanne stepped back, shaking and trembling for reasons unknown to him. He on the other hand was clueless and confused of what was happening.

He tried approaching her and tried to communicate with her but the result, “Hon-,” he was cut off in an instant.

“Stop!”

She despairingly shouted with tears gradually sliding onto her face.

“Please! Stop acting …”

She flopped onto the floor and cried a stream. He, on the other hand, remained standing in confusion as to what was suddenly happening. He also teared up soon after. Seeing his wife wailing on her knees, tears just slid down his face. He lost all the energy and reasons for him stay tough. At that time, he finally realized the reason, as to why his wife was like that.

With a despaired look, he mumbled, “How did we become like this? Just when …”

– 10 DAYS AGO –

It was a totally normal day for the couple. They woke up together, brushed their teeth together and harmoniously ate their breakfast under the pleasant morning. It was just like any other normal day. They were happy sitting in front of each other, digging in their food while indulging in a very sweet conversation. Yes, it was totally normal, not until the bell rang. The bell where every started to become a mess; the bell that summoned the deepest of hell.

“Room 406, package delivery!”

After the bell was pressed, the voice of the devil echoed outside the door. Without any doubts, Roanne swiftly headed straight towards the door. She was completely clueless of what will happen once she opened the door. She never thought that the door she was going to open will lead their very normal day to a not very normal day. She never knew that right after opening that door, everything would soon be chaotic. She was totally clueless as at that exact moment, what she opened was the door leading to the deepest of hell. With a smile, she received the parcel without any hints of doubt.

“What’s that?”

Her husband Zach immediately questioned the identity of the parcel right after she closed the door.

“I also don’t know … Mom never told me she would send my anything. And also …”

She went to the kitchen and fetched a knife. She was determined to open the package without knowing what trouble it will lead her into.

“I never ordered anyth-“

She opened the parcel and instantly shuddered as she stopped in mid-sentence after seeing the content. She froze with her back facing Zach. Her eyes widened in fear upon seeing the content of the parcel. At that time, Roanne still had no any idea what she gotten herself into.

Seeing his wife’s sudden silence, Zach asked and said, “Honey? What’s wrong?”

Roanne snapped out. She panickedly closed the parcel and desperately hid it inside the cabinet on top of the sink.

She then faced him with a forced shaky smile and said, “Nothing, it’s nothing. It’s just, cooking ingredients.”

It was the only flawless answer she could think at that time. She was nervous, nervous that his husband may caught onto her lie. She did her best acting like everything was fine. However, Zach already noticed her sudden obvious change in behavior. She was smiling yet it was obviously forced and twitching. It was also the same with her eyes. She was restless as she faced him, despite that; Zach did not ask a thing.

He just smiled at her and said, “That’s a relief then.”

They continued their meal though Roanne’s edginess was simply obvious. She was anxious and was in distraught but still, Zach did not ask a thing. He just constantly took swift glances at her during their meal. As his husband, of course he can’t help but be concerned about her wife’s sudden behavioral changes. They finished their meal and now standing in front of the door. She sent him off to work like any other normal days.

“Should I grab a cake after I left for work later?” Zach asked.

She seemed to be out of it seeing her startled by his question. “Huh?”

Zach held her face and intently looked at her. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain? You are being restless since earlier. I want to ignore it but now I’m getting worried.”

Roanne brushed a smile as she wrapped her arm around his chest and hugged him tightly.

“Nothing, I think I’m just being sensitive these days.”

Zach hugged her back and replied, “Are you sure? Shouldn’t we go to the hospital?”

Roanne shook her head as she pulled herself back.

“This is nothing. Just go now or you’ll end up being late.”

She smiled.

Although hesitant, Zach trusted his wife’s word.

“Call me if something happens okay? I’ll be by your side then,”

Feeling loaded with concerns, Zach left for work just like that. Right after her husband left, her smile faded in a blink of an eye. She hurriedly rushed towards the kitchen sink. Although relaxed, her being so edgy was plain obvious. It was greatly showing in her face. She was trembling as she reached and extended her arms for the parcel she unknowingly received from someone she doesn’t know. She opened the box and the sight did not scare her anymore but rather, wrath gradually filled her anxiousness as she continued staring at the content of the parcel. Inside the box were their wedding photos drenched in red paint along with a note saying ‘Fucking liar’.

“Who is it?”

Her attention was taken by something similar to the content of the parcel. She was anxiously biting her fingernails while staring at their huge wedding picture hanged in the living room. She was deep in her thoughts. She was deeply pondering who could do such thing. She remained like that for a couple of minutes not until she just found herself surprisingly startled from the noise coming out from her phone. As a result, she surprisingly screamed in surprise as she snapped out after hearing her cellphone rang out of nowhere. She caught her breath as she was somehow panting heavily. She wiped her face as she was greatly sweating. She shakily rummaged through her pocket and even gotten more nervous as some unknown number was calling her at that moment.

“Hello?”

She amassed herself as she tried answering very normally.

“My gift, did you like it?”

The voice she heard was tampered.

“Who are you?”

All of her frustrations instantaneously built up as she enraged and yelled, “Just why are you suddenly doing this to me?!”

“Think hard, you already knew the answer, Mrs. Liar.”

The call ended.

Roanne frustratingly threw her phone. She screamed her heart out as she enraged once more. She began panting for all that screaming. Her pants then turned into sobs as she dropped her head down. She sobbed for minutes. After she calmed herself down, she leisurely reached for the parcel. She took a lighter and burned the whole content into ashes. She intently watched the whole thing completely disappeared from her sight. Her tear marks were even visible behind the burning photos in her hand.

“It’s okay, no one will know. He won’t know a thing.”

She mumbled indifferently.

Right after she burned the whole thing, she unknowingly went into the study room. There she stood still in front of one of the bookracks and pulled out a book entitled ‘Lies of Truth’. Upon pulling out that book, a secret room slowly revealed itself.

“It’s okay, we’re already married.”

A brief swift smirk was seen in her face.