Alice wandered to the bedroom, she needed a lie down to shake off the memories. At the bedroom door she froze, the double bed was neatly made, with the pillows all fluffed up and not a single crease in the bedspread. It wasn’t how she’d left it, she knew that. Alice never made a bed, it drove Tom mad, he’d always said a tidy bed was a tidy mind. She shook her head, told herself that the apartment block provided a cleaning service, that she’d missed it on the tenancy agreement. Striding over to the bed she messed up all the covers, threw the pillows on the floor and giggled to herself at the thought of how much Tom would hate that. She lay on the bed, pulling the covers around her when she was startled by the sound of the door slamming shut and the click of a key turning. She raced to the door, frantically grabbing at the handle, sobbing she called ‘Tom, Tom, is it you?’.
Alice sighed as she kicked the apartment door shut and placed the grocery bags over on the kitchen counter. She poured herself a glass of wine and gazed at the elaborate furniture, white walls and high ceilings. She’d found the place by chance, thought she’d lie low for a while after all that had happened. She rubbed her wrist, flinching as she remembered the argument with Tom. Alice was sure it was her fault, she’d been flirting with Mike at the party and Tom loved her so much he couldn’t bear it. She knew she shouldn’t have worn the red silk dress, it was too low cut. Before they went out that night Tom told her she looked like a prostitute and made her tie back her hair and wipe off the red lipstick.
Alice wandered to the bedroom, she needed a lie down to shake off the memories. At the bedroom door she froze, the double bed was neatly made, with the pillows all fluffed up and not a single crease in the bedspread. It wasn’t how she’d left it, she knew that. Alice never made a bed, it drove Tom mad, he’d always said a tidy bed was a tidy mind. She shook her head, told herself that the apartment block provided a cleaning service, that she’d missed it on the tenancy agreement. Striding over to the bed she messed up all the covers, threw the pillows on the floor and giggled to herself at the thought of how much Tom would hate that. She lay on the bed, pulling the covers around her when she was startled by the sound of the door slamming shut and the click of a key turning. She raced to the door, frantically grabbing at the handle, sobbing she called ‘Tom, Tom, is it you?’. Comments are closed.
|
Longer
|