2020 Writing Contest
FLASH FICTION : SECOND PLACE
The Fugitive
Michael Watson
Turning over in bed , he caught the waft of coffee brewing , and the faintest hint of soap and perfume . His wife was getting ready for work . The clacking of dishes was followed by the rattle of coat hangers , keys , the thud of the front door , and finally the sound of receding footsteps . She ’ d gone again without a goodbye . And then there was the silence , punctuated by the ticking of the clock . He shuddered as he lay , fully alert , staring at the ceiling .
Lately , everything had gone horribly wrong . His last outburst at the office had been the final straw . Fired two months ago , he had been mocked , totally humiliated when he had begged for another chance . He hadn ’ t expected to find another position , but he ’ d tried . Nothing . His ‘ office friends ’ no longer called .
In the beginning , his wife had shown some sympathy , but lately she had become more and more distant , going through the motions , keeping to herself . Sometimes he would catch her giving him sideways glances , perhaps sizing him up , more likely showing what he saw as a thinly disguised flash of disdain .
Before all of this , except for a few ups and downs , life had been good . They would often , on summer evenings , sit on the front porch and chat about things in general . They had even managed to take two trips abroad , enjoyed fairly frequent get-togethers with the neighbours and had garnered enough money to spend on the occasional luxury . But over time , things had changed . Without his income , money had become tight : some bills left unpaid .
To her credit . With her past experience in the financial world , his wife had found , fairly easily , a job , locally . He had not been really listening when she had tried to share the details , selfabsorbed as he was . At least she would bring money in .
He got up and tried to make some sense of this predicament that was solely of his own making . What could he do to fix this awful mess he ’ d created ? Suddenly he knew what he must do . He had to get away ! He needed to have time to do a rethink : to get himself in order . He had a few ideas as to where he might go .
Most probably , his wife was tired of his constant moping , long silences , and dark moods . He would contact her when he was ready and hope she would understand , although somehow he doubted it . He was pretty sure their time together was over and suspected that she would probably be relieved to see him gone . Best to pack up and get well away before she got back from work .
But he would need cash for whatever he chose to do .
Dressing quickly , he left the house and hurried downtown through the early morning rush , to the bank .
Inside , he waited , staring around him impatiently as one by one , those ahead of him were served .
Finally , clutching his bank card , he moved quickly forward , eyes lowered and asked for cash in large bills to be taken out of their joint account . As he looked up , he stared into the wide eyes of his wife .
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