Smile

The water was deep and black as night as a yellow sports car plunged into it after crashing over the ravine. The person fought with the jaws of life to get out of the car . . .

Then she woke up. Her leg twitching in spasmodic movements, waking her husband as well.

“Honey, is something wrong?” Jack asked Addison in a half-interested way, as he always did when this happened. He knew what was wrong. It was the dream.

“No, go back to sleep, Jack.” And he did. He fell into a dreamless sleep with his wife in his arms. Addison was facing the wall, she opened her eyes, and smiled.

The morning rose like bread in an oven. It brought a new day, a new beginning. Addison rolled over in her spot to find Jack already gone.

“Smile, Addy. Things could be worse.” She told herself as tears streamed down her cheeks. This was the forth day this week that her husband had left before the morning light. Addison looked down at her stomach as a wave of nausea swept over her like a paintbrush on canvas. She ran to the bathroom, and fifteen minutes later, to the phone.

“Mom, I think . . . I’m pregnant.”

She couldn’t imagine what she would do if she was. She couldn’t have a baby with that man, that horrible, horrible man. What if it grew up to be like daddy, smiling, smiling daddy . . . Ooh she hated his smile, cheesy and plotting at the same time, as if to say, “I’m up to something, but you’re too stupid to know what it is.” That man had pushed Addy over the edge, yes he had, and there was no way she would hit the ground without a fight.

“Still there?” Addison’s mom pulled her out of her own little world.

“Yea Mom, I’m here. I know what I’m gonna do now though, so I don’t need your help. Sorry.” She hung up the phone and giggled, empty bouts of laughter that filled the room with false joy. “I know what I’m gonna do, Yessiree, I know what I’m doing.” Then she put down the phone and hurried to the store for a pregnancy test.

She came home to a house as cold as ice, with a man inside that might as well have been the devil himself.

“Hey honey. Where have you been?” The man asked.

“How long have you been home, Jack?” Addison’s accusing eyes pierced through his heart.

“An hour, just got home from work, where have you been?”

“I’m pregnant.” She whispered.

“Excuse me?” Jack rose from his seat on the couch.

“I said . . . ”

“I know what you said!” Jack snapped.

“Well, golly gee. You don’t have to be so mean about it. I thought you wanted a family, Jackson.” She said in a fake accent.

“Dang it, Addison! This is not a good time, and don’t call me that!”

“Not a good time...Not a good time?” Addy went from barely audible to a yell heard around the world. “Why is that Jacky-poo?”

“Addy . . . ”

“Well, is it because of her?”

“Who?” Jack sounded interested now.

“Don’t play dumb with me . . . ”

“Why? Because you practically invented it?” Ooh . . . that got Addy fired up. Then he smiled. That smile. Suddenly in her mind he turned into a fly on the wall, it would be so easy to reach out and just SMACK!

But she didn’t, and ended yelling at him for another half an hour. Late into the evening, when the sun had gone into hiding, she snuck around in her anything but faithful husband’s things. Rummaging through the debris was harder then anyone could ever imagine.

“Got it.” Addy smiled as she lifted a box of postcards and letters out of the back of a drawer.

Earlier that night, Jack had accidently called her ‘Ellie’ in his rage. Not a horrible slip for a normal person, but for someone in an argument about infidelity, it was huge.

She searched through the papers and found one marked with “Love, E.” and dated yesterday. The mark was on the bottom, smelled of perfume, and had an address of a hotel watermarked in.

“What? Does he think I’m stupid?”

“What do you think your doing?” Jack yelled, running at Addison.

“Reading my love letters.” Addy smirked, holding up the letters. “You lying son of a. . .”

“What if she’s just a fan?” Jack piped in.

“Of your radio show? Then she needs psychotherapy.” She laughed. “Give it up. I caught you. Get out. Now!”

“Can’t I at least pack my stuff?”

“No. But here.” She said, handing him the letter. “You need this more than I do.”

“Addy . . . ”

“Go.” She whispered angrily. Her tears were beginning to fall, creating pools of sadness at her neck.

“Her name is Ellie. Ellie Sanderson.” Jack said as he started to walk out the door.

“And?” Addy acted like she didn’t care, but she did. She wanted revenge, and as she shut the door the dream came to her mind. She smiled, a sinister smile that no one in the world but her would understand. “Ellie . . . ”

She shot out the door like a bullet from a gun, getting into her car and driving down the road. She stopped along the way to look in the yellow pages book to find where she was going. She got the address and used the navigation system to get her there.

“Perfect.” Addy whispered as a yellow sports car pulled out of Ellie’s driveway. She followed her down the street right on her tail. It began to rain. Then it began to pour.

“Almost there.” Addy said, speeding up. They snuck up on the lake and Addy floored it, crashing into the back of Ellie’s car, sending it spinning, rolling, crashing over the cliff into the lake below.

The water was deep and black as night as a car plunged into it as Addison imagined a person fighting the jaws of life to get out of the car.

“Smile, Ellie, things could be worse.”