Destroy HER

Life can surprise us in so many ways. For one moment you are happy and in another, desperate. Emma feels scared when she is in a good mood, she feels like something bad is going to happen soon.

She was turning left and right while sleeping, something was tormenting her. Finding herself at the beach having fun with her family. Her son Noah was smiling and laughing chasing the waves. All of a sudden, the ocean was going backward. Freaking out from what was going to happen, with her mouth wide open she screamed from the deepest of her lungs: "Noah, run as fast as you can towards the hills! Run, Noah Run!" The ocean turned into a gigantic tsunami ready to wipe out everything in his way. Noah for a moment was there, and then she lost him from her sight. Evan was there too, but where was he?

Those violent and furious waves took away umbrellas, a bit further, a car, and then flooded a building nearby. The waves' noise was so loud that she had to cover her ears to survive being deaf. The feeling that she couldn't do anything to stop this left her numb and paralyzed for a second. Then she started to run again, turned her head back to sick for Noah...The waves were still behind her, so close and ready to catch her...

Then she felt a warm kiss on her chick, trying to open her heavy eyes she saw Evan. Was that a dream? Thank Goodness it was. When she saw his smile, her heart felt relieved. Trying to move the blankets, she stood up at her bed for some moments and then went towards the bathroom. When she was out her husband had already prepared the expresso coffee. She liked it with no sugar cream and that was just perfect. They usually loved to talk for an hour on that coffee and discuss different things on their way.

That day was just any other day, making ready her son for school. Snacks check, water bottle check, and backpack check. Everything was ready for school. After that, Emma would start cleaning, cooking, and studying at the same time. She was not an obsessed cleaning type. A house is not a hotel she said, so it should not be always in order and shiny.

Checking the time on her phone, saw that was almost time to pick up Noah. Getting ready to go out, she had a sudden call from her husband:

"Hunny, can you please pick me up from my mom's house? I need to change the cars."

At first, she agreed but walking outside in the parking area, saw that everything was surrounded by ice. Even though stepping one step at a time she almost slipped. Her car was covered everywhere with ice, above and underneath. In this situation, she could not dare to pull it out, not alone. So, she had to ask Evan for help.

And there he was, pulling the car out without any problem. He loved to brag about his driving skills and repeated that to everyone 'I am not a cartoon driver'. When she was good to go, saw that there was no more time left to give him a ride. With a sad face and feeling sorry she turned around and said:

“I’m sorry, but you should have told me earlier about this; now it’s too late to pick up Noah. I have to go,” she spoke in a hurry. Then she jumped towards the car to sit in the driver’s seat. It was a bit high for her; she always had to jump to reach it. That jump made her always laugh at herself.

Evan, on the other hand, was getting ready for work. He shaved and dressed. For him, appearance was a big deal, and took that very seriously. He wore skinny blue dark jeans, a shirt, and some not-too-sporty sneakers. Of course, he could not forget to take also a shower before going to work. Emma always thought that he took so much care of himself just to be at the center of attention.

Driving carefully, suddenly, she heard strange sounds on her phone. Realizing then that she might have forgotten to close the call with her husband. Despite that, she decided to listen more. Having a feeling, that something was going to happen. At the same time, paying attention to the long line of parent pick-up. As they were ten more minutes before the dismissal, she put the car in the parking march and waited.

In the waiting silence, Emma heard on that call a screaming corny voice, definitely a woman's voice. It did not stop; it was loudly and repeatedly. Her breathing paused for a second, trying to understand what was happening. A lot of questions attacked her at the same time; 'Was he cheating or what? What was he doing? With whom was he?' Oh, no!

Trying to wake herself up, thinking it was a nightmare, she shook her head. Of course, she was going crazy, her mind was playing tricks on her. Breathing too fast, her hands were shaking, and her stomach was like someone had just punched her right through it.

Not sure what to do she rolled her eyes from left to right, having a messed-up feeling. Biting nervously her lips, she hung up and called back. Well, she needed an explanation a reason or something. But Evan was taking a long time to pick up the phone and answer. 'Of course, he had so much better to do.' thinking ironically. Losing control of her emotions, Emma wished to never have witnessed that, but yet she did.

“Why were you not answering? With whom are you right now? What the heck are you doing? Answer me!” screaming all of these interrogative questions in one single breath.

“I am at home exactly where you left me!" he spoke like nothing had happened as if everything was just normal.

“Do you think I am stupid or what? Stop pretending you piece of sh...! I heard you on the phone. Who is there with you? I heard that b... screaming. I hate you; I hate you. Do not talk to me ever again. I am so sick and tired of this.

And his answer was as simple as that; 'It was just a movie playing on the TV.'

Oh, she was mad, so mad that she had to hang up the phone. Followed, by a short and angry message sent to him, 'I do not want to see or hear anything from you!'

Looking out the window, with one hand on her chest and the other one on the wheel. A panic attack took her over and couldn’t catch her breath. With her hands shivering, opened the left window of the driver’s side to get some fresh air; It was getting too hot in there. Putting her head outside of the window for some seconds helped her a little bit.

She wanted so much to scream and let all her pain out but, there were a lot of cars close to her. Emma knew that in a few minutes, she was going to be with her son. He was so young and innocent, she was the luckiest mom in the world having such a beautiful gift in her life. Thinking about that was ready to fake a smile. However, every time she smiled, felt like losing some pieces of her. She had to be strong, for him. 'Calm yourself, Emma! Come on! You can do it. A few more minutes than you can let the scream out.' she encouraged herself.

Emma saw that Noah was coming slowly, towards the car. Taking one step at a time as the sidewalk was icy. That day he was wearing a black Adidas tracksuit and a warm coat. Carefully opened the car's back door and hopped inside.

“Good afternoon sweety! Buckle up, please. How was school today?” Trying to start a conversation with him.

At that time, Evan called a hundred times and sent a lot of messages on the phone. Not surprisingly, none of them was read or answered by Emma. Seeing herself in that kind of situation more than once, felt so exhausted.

As soon as they were home, she set the table and went to lock herself in the bathroom. Leaned against the wall, placed her hands on her head then sat down on the cold tiles. Letting out a silent scream; as she could not make herself heard, her soul was crying on the inside. Strangely, though no tears came out; no, for a reason she couldn’t cry. Sitting there, in the cold bathroom, with her knees on her face, for a few minutes, without making a sound, shocked and lost…