Shattered

17. Warm Mornings

It was a warm morning. The blanket felt heavy and Alec tossed and turned for a while in the bed. The room was filled with scent of musk and sex. The sun rays were peering through the curtains in a failed attempt to light the room.

It was a warm morning. His hair around the back of his neck were still damp with sweat. His eyelids were refusing to open. He was beginning to feel the sweat layering his skin underneath the blankets. He tossed one more time towards his right and his hand landed on the pillow that Beth used. On it was a small paper, a stick note.

Alec finally opened his eyes to see the alien object on the bed. Beth had written him a note,

Had an emergency at the hospital.

-Beth.

Beth wasn't home. She had left. When Alec got up and sat on the bed, he saw her side had been made neatly. The only thing messy was the blanket, which he was using. She must have gone long time back, because the bed on her side was not warm.

It was a warm morning, but the bed was cold.

•

Standing under the shower, Alec switched on the faucet. He let the cold water fall on his back before he turned his head towards it. He could feel every drop that was falling. His senses had been multiplied to a great extent last night and they hadn't come down from their high.

He poured in some shower gel in his hand. For a moment he was tempted to open Beth's. He could still smell her fragrance. Her sweet, subtle fragrance. But he used his, hoping to rub off some of her's.

He began lathering in his hands and started washing his hands. He had wrapped them around her fragile frame when she had a nightmare. He remembered how she had succumbed to peace as soon as he had pressed her to his chest.
He touched at the exact spot where he had felt her warm breaths. He couldn't feel the lather in his hands anymore, but he began remembering everything his hands had touched the previous night. Her slim waist and her curves, her flushed face and her soft damp hair, her fingers between his.
He could no longer feel the water falling on him, but her warm body around around his.

Snap out of it, he scolded himself. He had to snap out of it because he was spiralling back into the events that took place the night before. His eyes could feel themselves being searched by her's. He had to snap out of it because when he replayed everything in his mind, his thoughts too came back to crash his reality.

He was in love with her.

He had fallen in love with her. And he knew it was love. He knew this was going to complicate things much more than they both had planned but he was in love with her and there was nothing he could do about it, but tell her the truth.

Yes, he wanted to tell her this. He wanted her to know about it. He wanted the entire world to know about it. He was in love with his wife.

And then the anxiety hit him. What about Melissa? Wasn't he cheating on his love? But then how was it cheating when she wasn't here anymore? But she was she here... Melissa was here, she was always here.

He could still sense her presence around the house. He remembered his dream, she was running away from him, he was trying to stop her but he couldn't and she was running away because she knew he was in love with Beth.