Swing Life Away - Chapter 2 (LPOV)
To live is like to love--all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
~
It started just like any other morning, week or weekend. The alarm barely had time to go off, alerting those within earshot that it was exactly five o'clock on the dot. The blaring sound was silenced quickly by a pale hand. The owner quickly tiptoed across the room and opened one of two doors. Slipping into the room entirely before closing the door to block any light from filtering into the room. Just like any other morning, she was awake even despite his best efforts to keep the alarm clock silent.
The blond lay silently in bed, rolling over to stare at the ceiling now. The room was dark, the curtains pulled back over the almost wall-size window. The moon was waning and just barely letting any light into the room. The sky was a deep indigo, signaling the sun was slowly trying to come up. The room was silent, beside the faint sound of the shower running on the other side of the walls. She sighed loudly and pulled the ridiculous thread-count sheets over her face. It was absolute peace, so why did she feel like screaming? This was the usual fight she had every morning. Why did she want to scream, to run and hide somewhere and never come out? It was ridiculous to feel this way, since she couldn't even place why.
The shower shut off not long later. And the man opened the door, the light from inside was already off. He crept quietly to the closet and stepped inside it. Turning the lights on inside, the door was cracked, so only a sliver peeked out onto the floor outside. He shuffled about, drying and getting dressed for the day no doubt. After clearly deeming himself ready, he flipped the switch off and stepped out. Moving quietly over, he gently pulled the sheet back. Unaware the woman before him was awake. He whispered his usual goodbye and kissed her forehead. She remained still in bed, listening as the car outside roared to life, the engine revving twice, almost experimentally, before the gravel crunched under the tires. Then there was just silence again, and she didn't hold the scream in anymore. Putting a fluffy and stupidly embroidered pillow over her mouth as she let out some frustration she couldn't even place in scream form.
The blue LED numbers announced it was fifteen past eight when she finally climbed out of the bed. She walked into the bathroom, but she didn't shower. Just snagging the white bathrobe from the back door. Wrapping it around the silk nightgown she'd worn to bed the night before. Walking down the stairs, she chewed on her bottom lip, hearing the coffee machine kicking to life on it's own. It must have been five minutes later, since it was set to start automatically at eight-twenty every morning. Reaching the first floor, she stepped into the small hall that led to the kitchen, watching as the black liquid poured slowly into the clear container.
She wasn't alone for too long, the sound of claws clicking along the linoleum alerted her to what she called her only two friends. A pair of shiba inu girls, a red and a black-tan, who looked up expectantly at her. Smiling, she knew exactly what those begging eyes were asking for. Breakfast. Opening one of the pantries, she pulled out the expensive food her husband insisted upon. It was the same as store brand, just with a fancier PR department in her opinion. However, it only made sense if you looked at the bowls the dogs themselves ate from. They were both lifted off the ground, to perfect height by an almost table, made of mahogany. A large indent in each held the stainless steel bowl of each dog. On the large space beside the bowl, their names were etched in with wood burning. More absurd, was the two large diamonds embedded, sparkling tauntingly up out of the wood. Rolling her eyes as she usually did at the diamonds, she poured the proper amount of food for breakfast and went to get her coffee.
She sat on the couch in the living room moments later. Cradling the cup for dear life, it looked like it belonged to a fancy china collection. But then again, all their general dishes looked this way. And even sillier, they had four sets of actual 'fine china' reserved for special guests and dinners. Sighing, she sipped her coffee, picking at a loose thread on the pure white sofa. The whole living room seemed too sterile, white couches, white love seat, two white arm chairs. White carpet, a white wood table and entertainment center. Of course, the walls were cream, but it looked white enough she didn't care. The living room was covered by the sheer white curtain, hardly keeping any light or eyes from prying inside. As much as she hated the living room, it wasn't any better than the rest of the house. Which was far too big for her taste.
She'd spent her first year here decorating the rooms, so they didn't just look like empty holes. There were at least six bedrooms in this place. Two of them counted as master bedrooms, one on each floor. She'd turned two into spare rooms, the first floor master bedroom was one of them. She'd also created a game room, which had a TV, game system, DVD's, an actual arcade game of Pac-Man and a shelf full of various board games. One of them she'd made into a study for her. With a desk, a state of the art computer she was scared to touch, afraid she'd break it. With three bookshelves lining the walls, filled with various books, texts and medical journals. The final room she'd spent turning into an office for her husband. And she kept the door closed and never went in there without permission. He tended to bring too many work related objects home for her to find it remotely safe for her to enter.
Hearing the sound of her two favorite girls walking from the kichen, licking their chops she was glad. That meant it was time to go out for a potty break. Getting to her feet, she led the two outside and watched as they ran past her into the fenced backyard. She settled herself into the covered porch swing. Curling her legs under her, as she watched the two spend more time playing than looking for a place to empty their bladders. Shrugging, she sipped on her warm coffee, looking around the grey-skied morning. It wasn't a new sight, but it still tended to dive her deep into her thoughts. It was bad she was alone so often, it gave her too much time to think.
Time to think why she felt her life was so wrong, but all she could do was point out minor imperfections. She had this house, a house most people salivated about as they seemed to slow in their cars as they drove past. The huge rock on her hand made every girl in town look at her with pure-green eyed envy. She usually tried to keep that hand tucked away out of sight, or too busy for people to zero in on it. She never had to work another day in her life, if she didn't want. But she did insist on working part-time at least, to feel less useless. All the money went into a savings account she never thought she'd have a need for really. She had two wonderful dogs and no kids, which was fine. She never wanted kids in her teen years anyways.
And she had a wonderful husband, who loved her enough. Sure he wasn't as romantic now as he'd been when they dated and first married. But he'd only been in school and just starting then. He was now one of the best Surgeons in the state and was very busy. It wasn't like he ignored her, he said goodbye every morning and talked about his day over dinner. They still had date nights when he managed to get a weekend off. They took lavish vacations to exotic places yearly. And she was showered with gifts in place of the affection he couldn't offer. More jewelry that rivaled that of the hope diamond. Two new cars, both which sat in the garage, as she preferred her old car she'd paid for herself. The dogs had been a Christmas gift, one she actually liked. The huge pool and hot tubs now connected to their back porch having been birthday and anniversary presents remained unused more than anything. But they did live in Washington, so they'd seemed to be absurd presents nonetheless.
Still, as she sipped her coffee, her blue eyes following on the cover of the hot tub, she couldn't stop the nagging feeling. Something was wrong, something was missing. But she just let it go again, as she got up to get her second cup. If she couldn't actually place it, she must just be thinking too much and just trying to find the negative in something yet again. Pouring the coffee into her cup, she peeked out the kitchen window. Her girls finally calmed enough and were now sniffing about the yard for the perfect spot. Took them long enough, damn.
The rest of her day was spent simply trying to keep herself occupied. She managed to vacuum most of the rooms on the first floor. Cleaning the Master bathrooms on both floors and leaving the others in the house for another day. She dusted the entertainment system in any room that held one. Rearranging books more meticulously than they needed to be. She fed the girls their lunch and took them out throughout the day periodically for exercise and potty breaks. Even using the hot tub for about ten minutes during one of the breaks. Before catching herself a warm shower and simply making a sandwich for her lunch. As the day winded into early evening, she decided she was bored of cleaning and attempted to find something on TV. Something about having more channels than you could count seemed to potentially decrease how much there was actually worth watching. Settling for some cooking show, she sighed and sunk into the pillows of the couch, zoning out as the woman said something about thyme or some such herb.
She was aware of the weight on her chest, but only vaguely. She felt herself floating between that world of awake and still asleep. It was such a pleasant world, she was too asleep to let her thoughts wonder. But not too asleep to be unable to enjoy the feeling of floating and peace she had. Despite the odd weight anchoring her from floating entirely into the depths of space. It was only moments later she realized their was some loud banging, which wasn't common with her usual half-dream states. Jerking awake suddenly, she felt as if a weight just plummeting to earth, sitting up suddenly, and looking down. A black and tan dog now groaned and wiggled in her lap, offended by the rude awakening. Squee had just been sleeping on her, as she tended to do. Sighing, she ran a hand through her blond hair, it was partially knotted on one side.
"Morning Luna dear." A voice cooed, the voice of course belonged to the man now standing in the archway. The faint light from the setting sun outside made his brown hair appear to look even darker. Just like the trunk of a tree after a downpour. "Dinners nearly ready." He said, and with a smile disappeared into the kitchen again.
With a sigh, she scratched the sleeping dog in her lap behind the ears. Before pulling herself to her feet to wash her hands. She sat on their large table, which looked like it belonged in some Kings' Court, not their dining room. She listened as he talked about his day and made small talk. She was there enough just to learn they were eating Beef Wellington for dinner, with homemade mashed potatoes. She complimented him on his cooking, as per usual and ate all on her plate. As she listened to him clean up the kitchen, she made her way to their room. After brushing her tangled hair out, she slipped out of the sweats she'd changed into at some point in the day. She couldn't quite pinpoint exactly when it'd been. Only to put on some shorts and a tank top. Slipping into bed far earlier than usual. He didn't complain, he didn't ask why. She merely heard him watching some medical program on the TV downstairs as she let herself fall back into dreamland.
Next Chapter: Chapter Three