A
soft cry echoes from the bedroom upstairs.
The
ancient chair creaks as Vic rises to his feet, “God damn, can’t a man watch a
game in peace?” His voice aches from
exhaustion. His forest green Russell sweatshirt stained around the armpits from
the sweat protruding through his seventy-two
year old glands; the orange glow from the droppings of Doritos dot his navy
blue sweatpants. His knees crack as he takes his first step, his slippers
scuffing along the hard wood floor.
Another
cry of pain reverberates down the stairwell just as Vic’s right foot touches
the first step. The beige carpet that lines the stairs had been worn down over
the fifty-four years Vic and his wife have lived in the home. His freckled
callused hand reaches to the banister, which was once painted a radiant white,
but from the years of Vic’s rough hands, had been worn down to a wood pipe
specked with pealing skin. Vic slowly made his way up the stairs. The crying
continued and as he got closer to the top he could make the words out more
clearly.
“Vic,”
the voice said painfully, “please jus’ end this, I can’t.” the female’s voice
was softened by the years of her pain. “Please.” She began to sob lightly.
Vic
rubs his thumb and pointer finger along the bridge of his nose. He knows what
she wanted from him.
As
he reaches the top of the stairs, Vic stares into the dusty Victorian mirror. His
brown eyes were sunken into his wrinkled face; his long grey hair splotched amongst
the liver spots that dotted his scalp, his nose hair peeping out of his left
nostril. It didn’t bother him. He breaks away from the reflection and walks
down the faded red rug to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
He
slowly opens the door.
“Vic?”
the woman whispers. She lies on her back in the bed. Her golden hair was all
but fallen out, her eyes blood shot from crying, her skin nearly blue, and her
face covered in defeat. Vic walks over to the bed and seats himself right next to
the woman. He grabs her hand and holds it in his.
“You’re
freezing.” Vic pulls the comforter over the frail skeleton lying next to him. “You
know I love you, dear. I can’t stand to see you like this.” He brushes a strand
of her reaming hair out of her fading blue eye. He kisses her on her icy forehead
and lies next to her gently wrapping his arms around her fragile frame.
Her
weak voice speaks, cracking with the torture of the disease, “I jus’ can’t do
it Vic; I jus’ can’t anymore.”
Tears
once again begin to puddle along the deep bags seated under her eyes. Vic sits
ups and wipes them away with his left hand as a tear of his own wells up in the
corner of his eye and rolls down the cracks of his once smooth face.
“I wouldn’t know what to do without
you Rebecca,” he wipes the tear off his cheek, “You are my life.”
Rebecca doesn’t say anything just
sobs gently. Turning her head directly toward her husband, she notices the
anguish in his face, whereas he can see the considerably worse pain in hers.
“Just try and get some sleep.” He
kisses her on her dry lips, and lies back down with her humming gently. They lie
in silence for several moments before Rebecca finally drifts into a deep sleep.
Vic sits up and stares at his dying wife. He kisses her bony cheek once more
and makes his way to the door. As he shuts off the light, he turns toward the
bed and whispers, “I love you, til death do us part, my love.”
He walks back down to the living
room collapsing his exhausted body down into the olive recliner, the clock on
the game was winding down and his beloved New Jersey Devils are winning 3-0 and
on their way to hoisting the Stanley Cup once again, but Vic could not get back
into the game, as an eerie feeling convulsing throughout his soul.
As
the buzzer sounds he watches his team celebrate before shutting off the
television. Nerved by the feeling trembling through him, he walks back to his
bedroom.
He
enters the room, slips off his slippers, and climbs into the bed, putting his
arms around his lifeless wife. Welled up tears stream down his cheeks moistening
his dry skin. Her pain has finally ended; now he can sleep.
He
closes his eyes succumbing to a final sleep in hopes he will be reuniting with
his wife once again.
