Even before she was fully awake, Alice knew that something was wrong.

It could have been any number of things that had alerted her to her husband’s distress – perhaps his agitated twitching beside her, or maybe it was the way he had suddenly sat bolt upright in the bed. Maybe it was an inexplicable sixth sense only a wife could have.

She rolled over as David clicked on the bedside lamp – situated on the nightstand by his side of the bed. She frowned as she took in his sweat–soaked body and labored breathing. Her sudden anxiety was inexplicable – powerful – and she couldn’t immediately chase it away.

“Dave?” she murmured groggily. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer, or even acknowledge her for that matter. Instead, he raised a trembling hand to his face, digging his fingers into his eyes to clear them. His breathing lost none of its intensity, but it was his silence that scared Alice – more than any answer would have.

More awake now, she sat up and tried again, placing her hands gently on his heaving shoulders. “Dave? Are you okay?”

Finally, he turned to look at her, and his blue–eyed gaze was intense, demented. Gasping, he suddenly reached out to touch her cheek with a trembling hand. He fondled the smooth flesh of her face as though he had never felt anything like it before, trailing his fingers down over her quivering lips to her chin. His hand was visibly shaking – as though enflamed with palsy – as he smoothed her hair from her forehead.

His behavior was erratic and unusual, and none of Alice’s fear disappeared. She opened her mouth to say something –

– but David sobbed, his face contorting into a mask of pure pain and anguish.

Alice’s heart leapt into her throat, tearing itself free of her chest and leaving behind it a gaping cavity that filled rapidly with fear’s icy venom: David had never ever cried in front of her before.

“David?” she whispered, for a whisper was all she had the breath to manage.

Her husband collapsed onto her chest, sobbing wildly – uncontrollably – into her breasts. Disjointed words were lost in her blouse, and Alice was knocked backwards onto the pillows under this assault. She held him tightly to her, tangling her fingers in his hair because she didn’t know what else to do.

All the while, fearful tears escaped her eyes and trailed silently down her cheeks.

And then David raised his head to look at her. The haunted look in his bloodshot eyes sent the fearful venom pouring into her guts, freezing them instantly.

“Alice…” he said, his voice strained and uneven. “I… I killed you…”