“Come on, Aurora. I am not asking you to go out and party. I am just asking to stay over.” Aurora could hear the shakiness in Shazzy’s voice. “Besides, I will be in good company and will bring wine.”
Nights when Gannon would go out of town for work, Shazzy would call Aurora. Some nights Aurora wanted to spite Gannon, so she would let Shazzy drag her out to a dive bar called The Outfit. The faux leather seats were torn, and the neon sign only displayed the letters, “The OU-F--.” After a night of dancing and drinking, the hangovers would make Aurora feel nauseated and irritable.
“No, I don’t really want to drink tonight,” Aurora said. “I just got this book from the library.”
“Don’t be so boring!” Shazzy said. “You are a career woman; you need to enjoy yourself. Come on! It will be fun.”
“Reading a book and drinking a cup of hot chocolate is reward enough.”
“Aurora, really?” Shazzy said. “That sounds pathetic.”
Aurora sighed.
“Fine. I will call Gannon,” Aurora said. “You have patients to get back to and I need to get back to work. Also, don’t bring the wine unless you plan to drink it while Gannon is asleep.”
Aurora called Gannon after she hung up with Shazzy.
“Hey, Gannon.”
“Hey… I am a bit busy with this designing thing for work. Can I call you back later?”
“Well,” Aurora said. “I will talk quick.”
“Fine.”
“Can Shazzy stay over tonight?”
“Why? Doesn’t she live with her parents?” Gannon said.
“Yes, but it is kind of complicated,” Aurora said. “She got in a fight.”
“Aurora, I have work to do.”
“I know, but she really has nowhere else to go.”
“Uhhhh.”
“Please,” Aurora pleaded.
“Fine,” Gannon said. “I have a deadline tonight. I just don’t want any noise.”
“Okay.”
“It's good you asked me. You know I don’t want you to hang out with anyone I don’t approve of.”
“Like Tessa?”
“Exactly like that! It is for your own good. You will thank me someday.”
“Well, see you later,” Aurora said as she hung up.
Chapter 2
It was cold and still that late October night. Outside, the moon reflected the ice-frosted leaves. Covered in dew, the grass resembled the icing on a freshly glazed pastry. When Aurora went to bed, Shazzy was asleep in the guest bedroom and Gannon was working in his office. Aurora struggled to sleep that night. She had to work early the next morning. She often found herself restless and over analytical.
Aurora got up from her bed to go to the bathroom. The lights were off, and she did not have her glasses on. Aurora’s bare feet felt cold on the hardwood floor. The hallway to the bathroom felt like a dark tunnel. When she got to the end of that tunnel, she couldn’t see much besides a smeared canvas in front of her eyes in the living room. Instead of turning right to the bathroom, something made Aurora look back.
She heard a sound that made her turn her head. That moan sounds too familiar, Aurora muttered to herself.
All she saw was a blur. She walked further toward the moving objects. Her heart started to beat faster. She squinted her eyes and saw the side of a man's face as the lamplight reflected his strawberry blonde hair. She heard a whisper, “Take off your shirt.” She took in a big breath of air as if she were punched in the stomach. She knew that slightly crooked nose from a mile away, and could recognize that light southern accent anywhere, even as a whisper.
Is this really happening? Her heart started to beat faster. Her breaths got shorter.
Aurora stopped. She felt a tightness in her chest. The hair on the backs of her arms stuck up as straight as the quills on a porcupine. She stood there as her blood froze in her veins. She could neither speak nor breathe.
She felt numb and cold. Shivers ran down her spine.
She stared at both of them for a few moments before she could say anything. When words started to come out of her mouth, she began to whimper. She couldn’t utter a word.
It was her husband kissing Shazzy.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Aurora finally managed to yell.
Gannon jumped off the couch.
“It ain’t what it looks like, Rora,” Gannon stuttered as he smiled, taking a step toward Aurora.
“It didn’t mean anything,” Shazzy said, her eyes wide and her face pale. Then she yawned. “We are both really drunk."
Shazzy… But Shazzy doesn’t get drunk. She is a lush. A heavyweight.
Shazzy continued, “Aurora, don't worry.”
“Are you really telling me not to worry? You are nothing to me. You are both nothing to me,” Aurora said. “Shazzy, the thought of your voice right now mimics the sound of nails being scraped on a chalkboard.”
“Rora, this is my mistake,” Gannon said. “I thought she was you.”
“Really, Gannon? Really?” Aurora said. “The difference between Shazzy and me is like the difference between real milk and soy milk. Are you seriously thinking I am going to believe that your’e ‘sorry’ this time?”
Both Shazzy and Gannon stared at Aurora in amazement. Aurora shook her head as she stared into Gannon’s eyes. Those are the same dark black eyes I fell in love with during my first month in college… those eyes persuaded me to marry him. The truth behind those eyes was finally staring right at her, and she couldn’t run away or brush it off anymore. Such an idiot, Aurora! I am such an idiot!
“I know why both of your eyes are brown,” Aurora said. “Because you are full of shit.”
“What?” Gannon said. “What did you say to me?” He got off the couch, clenching his fists.
She knew Gannon was a flirt with other women before marriage, but she thought she could change him or he would change himself. But she knew deep down that she could not change a man like Gannon. Wishful thinking for a guy who flirts with about every waitress we have ever had.
“Shazzy...” Aurora said. “You were asleep when I went to bed.”
“I know I was, but…”.
“Is this the real reason why you wanted to stay here tonight?” Aurora said as she stared down Shazzy. Aurora threw her hand up like she was throwing away garbage. Aurora continued before they could utter another word. “Gannon! And you! You were working!” Aurora said. “This has to be a joke.”
Aurora stood there, her knees buckling. She could barely stand or breathe.
As she stared at Shazzy and Gannon, she became sick to her stomach. It was as if someone were cutting out her intestines with rusty kitchen scissors. Is this a horror film? Or am I dreaming? I must be dreaming.
Aurora ran back to her room. She slammed and locked the door. She put her right hand on the door and slowly rubbed it as if she were rubbing her hair like her grandma used to do to her as a child.
Aurora, you will be fine. Everything will be okay. You will be fine. She fell to the floor.
She