Honey, I’ve Got a Knife and I’m Not Kidding Around

Brittany Riley

09/26/06

Final Draft

“Honey, can you please open the door and grab these groceries?” I yelled through the ugly salmon door. “ It’s freezing out and my fingers are past numb.”

I fumbled around in my purse for the keys, hearing nothing but silence coming from the apartment.

“Honey?”

I swung open the apartment door, the smell of stale vomit greeting me as it had every day since I had bought the roach-infested hellhole. I looked up to see some skinny blonde I’d never seen on top of my boyfriend, the two of them clouded in cigarette smoke.

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” I screamed, dropping the groceries on the crusty carpet and grabbing a paring knife from the rusty sink. The pictures of my boyfriend Brandon and me smiled at me from the peeling walls, mocking me with their false happiness. Upon close inspection, a visitor might be able to detect the distance that haunted us, but I wasn’t about to examine them. My anger turned our sad eyes into little blue blurs.

“Shit, you better get lost,” Brandon said. They both jumped off the moldy couch and the blonde bolted out the room, pulling her pink mini skirt down over her cheating butt with her well-groomed hands. When I heard the door slam, I turned on Brandon.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, furious, as I brandished the knife at him. “I was out of the house for less than an hour!”

“Baby, it wasn’t what you think.”

“Well then, what was it? Because it looked to me like you were about to jump into bed with some blonde skank!” I took a step closer. “How many girls have you screwed while I’ve been out, you no-good sonofabitch?”

“Baby, please just let me explain!” he pleaded. “She came onto me, not the other way around! I was trying to get her to stop! Please, I swear I would never, ever, cheat on you!”

“Don’t lie to me!” I howled, taking yet another step towards him.

The cramped apartment seemed to close in tighter. Air seemed to avoid my lungs, so I did what I did next without thinking.

I swung the knife down with the intention to kill. He’d broken his word again, and he wasn’t going to go unpunished. My plans to finally end this heartbreaking relationship were postponed as he stepped aside at the last moment. The knife burrowed deep into his left arm, barely an inch from his heart. I crumpled to the floor, tears pouring down my face like April rain.

“Don’t lie Brandon, I’m not stupid,” I whimpered.

“Brittany, shh it’s ok. Don’t cry, please. I love you so much, baby, so much. Please don’t cry.” He completely ignored the gash in his arm, choosing to comfort me instead as he had all the times before.

“Shut up!” I sobbed, rocking back and forth.

“Baby it’s alright, we’re gonna make it, it’s alright. I love you,” he said, holding me tightly so as to not lose me. “I love you so so much, now you say it. I know you love me because we love each other. Come on, I wanna hear you say it.”

“I love you,” I whispered, nose dripping on his bleeding wound. He barely noticed.

“Good, say it again.”

“I love you.”

“Good baby, I love you too. Now let’s go put away these groceries. Come on.”

“But what about your gash? Shouldn’t we take care of that?”

He put a finger to my lips to silence me. It worked every time.

“I’ll heal, but the groceries won’t put themselves away. Now come on.”

I stood slowly, mostly with his help, my head still spinning and my heart still shattered. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. As we were unloading the food, I finally spoke up again.

“Brandon, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean it I swear.”

He smiled and patted me on the head as if I were a child.

“I know baby, I know.”