Where It All Ends

McKenzie stared at the glass of wine in her had, thinking about what would happen of she broke the glass in such a way that it made deep cuts on her hands and wrists. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be an end to her life or if she simply wanted something different than what she had, she just knew that she couldn't stay here anymore. Derek was suffocating her. Everyone always says how great of a husband he is, always doing everything for McKenzie and treating her like she was the center of his world. That is where the problem was; she didn't want to be anyone's sun, she wanted her to have her life, Derek to have his, and blend them together in the evening when they came home and talked about their days. Derek was the CEO of a fortune 500 company so he really made his own schedule and McKenzie had her own candle/herb shop. Every morning Derek drove his wife to her shop at 8:30am, brought her lunch at noon, and picked her up at 5:30 on the dot. In the few hours she was away from him, she was the happiest. When they got home in the evening, McKenzie would go to cook dinner while Derek sat at the island counter to talk about their days and he would get up to wash any dishes that she was done using so there would be less to do after. They would eat dinner at the table where Derek would talk about the plans he had for their future, including children that he knew McKenzie didn't want.

After dinner they would clean up together, watch a movie and head to bed. Derek would read a book while McKenzie did her night time routine and they would turn off lights when she was done and head to bed, aside from Thursday nights, which was their night to make love; Derek had a schedule for everything. Weekends weren't any different, except instead of work, they would go grocery shopping together, go to the dry cleaner, and run any errands necessary; Derek always drove and McKenzie always was the "list keeper" and making sure they got all of their tasks done. Sunday was church day where they would dress in their Sunday best and go fit in with the other "happily" married couples. McKenzie didn't really have any friends, and her family only saw the side of Derek he wanted them to see, so she had no one she could talk to about how she was feeling controlled and smothered in her marriage.

On their anniversary, marking five years of marriage, Derek surprised McKenzie with a trip to the Bahamas. As excited as she was, she just didn't want to spend anymore "alone time" with her husband because that is all these last five years has been and McKenzie's birthday would be happening while they were on this trip so she couldn't celebrate with anyone else if she wanted to. They were leaving in 3 days, so McKenzie hugged her husband, giving him a hallow "thank you" for the trip and went off to start packing to make sure she had everything she wanted and needed. Derek wouldn't let her wear last season's swim suit on this trip, which is all she had, so she told him that she had to go shopping. "Great" he said "I'll go with you!" Derek loved to see his wife in the most stylish clothes, especially in a bikini with a nice sun hat and a fresh manicure. While McKenzie was getting ready to go, Derek made the call to set up a spa day for her the next day and calling her assistant manager to run the store because he wanted to treat his wife, he just wanted to make her happy.

Off to the Bahamas they went, staying in the most beautiful resort McKenzie could imagine. She was actually starting to be a little excited for this trip, maybe Derek would let her have some time to herself on the beach, getting a tan. They checked in to their room and went to get settled. "I have something to tell you" he said to her while unpacking both their bags "I have an ulterior motive for this trip." McKenzie's head started reeling, maybe it was a divorce trip and he just wanted her to have something nice one last time. "Oh, and what is that?" she asked. "Well, this is actually a business trip for me, I have some important meetings to close some really big deals that are going to do great things for the company, so I will be gone most of the day every day. Will you be ok spending some time without me?" Derek acted like she couldn't take care of herself at all, but she was thrilled to get to be alone for a while! "Sure, I will be fine, but I will miss you" she laid it on thick.

The next day, Derek was off to his first meeting so McKenzie went down to the resort restaurant and had some breakfast, then got ready and went to the beach to enjoy some alone time by the water. Sitting in a lounge chair on the white sand beach, McKenzie was enjoying the sun and warmth, and had a nice margarita to drink. She looked up and saw a ship on the horizon, a yacht actually. "It would be nice to be at a yacht party, maybe Derek could make that happen" she thought as she took a sip of her margarita and laid back to soak in some more sun. Later that evening, she was back in the hotel room when she got the news that there was a yacht that sank and there were no survivors. What a tragedy, but she didn't understand why this hotel manager was telling her about it. "Ma'am, your husband was on that yacht" he told her. Her face went blank, she was speechless. "Thank you for letting me know" she said in a strained, low voice. McKenzie closed the door, leaned against it and started to smirk. She thought "I am finally free! This is where it all ends!"