Elle jolted from a dream to her alarm clock...heart beating... She peaks at her clock which

reads “5:50” .... its so early, what am I doing awake She lays there for a bit longer

thinking and trying to figure out what day it was… Realizing its Monday and she needs to

get up and get ready for work…she thinks to herself, should I get up and be on time to work

or…..Elle rolls over and waits for her 6:15 Alarm to go off.

Beep Beep Beep Beep 6:15 SNOOZE

Beep Beep Beep Beep 6:25 STOP

Laying on her side with her eyes still shut, Elle hears her brother, Andrew in the bathroom

that’s just a door over from hers, brushing his teeth. “WAKEY WAKEY” he yells behind his

toothbrush, while standing in her door. uughh I don’t want to Elle thinks. She wonders where

her Cat is and hopes he hadn’t gotten out over the night since there had been Coyotes in

the woods behind the house a few weeks back. Elle remembers She brought him in when

she got home last night. Kitty normally jumps on her bed in the morning and sits right on her

face. And her German Shepherd normally comes and sits right next to the bed and wines till

she wakes up to let him out. This morning neither of them had come in... if they had she

slept through them attempting to wake her up.

Elle rolls over and takes a deep breath and gets up. Its November… so its been a month

since Elle moved in with her brother. Since the divorce was finalized in September, her ex,

Logan decided to leave her high and dry and ditch paying his half of the rent on their

apartment. Elle had gone away the weekend after their hearing... to regroup and to come

back with a clear and fresh mine. Ready to talk to Logan about their living situation. Upon

coming home only to see he cleared their Apartment of all his things, plus a bunch of hers

leaving her to pay the last month of rent alone. Which she could barely do without selling or

canceling subscriptions and maxing out credit cards she had been paying off. Furious, this was the only way her ex fucked her where she felt something. Clearly marrying him for the size of his penis was not the reason she said “yes”.

After scrapping up enough cash to pay the last month of rent and informing the leasing office SHE will not be renewing their lease, which thankfully is up at the end of October, she packs up what’s left of their apartment with the help of her brother, sister and a few close friends. They are able to do it in a weekend, thankfully. The sooner the better she got out of there. Living with her brother wasn’t the worst, but this was deff a temporally thing. Elle was grateful her younger brother Andrew offered her his spare room. Without him, Elle would have to find a home for her Cat and German Shepherd, the prices for a 1-bedroom apartment that ALLOWS pets. Their requirements are basically asking you for your left arm and the tears of your first child. No, thanks. I’ll live in my Jeep before I give up my pets to live in an overpriced apartment with paper thin walls. I’d rather not hear the neighbor getting railed out by a different dude every other night.

Trying to get back on her feet and push through the depression she knew was setting in.

Where Andrew lives is a little future from her work than she used to, but its secluded, which is

something she needs right now. A long gravel driveway with trees on each side, leading up

to an older house. Andrews been fixing it up and he’s done a lot since he moved in a year

before. There’s a front porch facing the long driveway, a back deck right off the kitchen. The

house itself is surrounded by woods. Woods that are protected by the Government. Andrew

even has some tiki torches around the back deck, which makes for sitting out back at night

comfortable and homey. Elle occupies her time with painting, Photography anything to do

with art really, going to the gym, and a lot of reading. She was never much of a reader

before her divorce. After, she speeds through books like they are going out of style. Her ex

didn’t care for her love of art. Which made them doing things SHE enjoyed together

impossible. He had the attention span of a carnival fish. A carnival fish that lived in a bowl of

IPA. So sitting at home painting on a Friday night or over the weekend was out of the

picture. Logan always had to be out, always had to be seen and Logan was ALWAYS

competing with a close friend. Best car, who can drink more, which Elle LOVED. She loved

coming home to her husband piss drunk, passed out on the floor on her side of the bed

sleeping on her blanket with vomit all over him.. just to look in the bathroom and see the

rest of this vomit all over the floor and shower curtain. She loved cleaning up after him when

he’d come home completely plastered making food, spilling said food, leaving a mess in the

kitchen then head to the living room to kick off his stupid DC skate shoes {what loser still

wears DC in their 30’s and they don’t even skate... or ever did…. oh, right Logan Taylor...

the man I married} and leaving a trail of a mess to their bedroom… just to sleep for the next

day after. Totally useless.

Elle never really thought about all the things he did that bothered the fuck out of her while

they were together. Only after getting divorced, she would notice them. He silenced her,

making her feel bad for speaking for herself. Always convinced himself she was cheating.

There was one night that was the beginning of the end of their marriage, when she’d told

Logan she was going home while they were out at the bar, that she’d rather be at home

painting. He laughed in her face, spoke to her as if she was a dog that just shit in his shoes

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instead of his wife.

“Who the fuck leaves the bar to go home and paint… and actually paint? Like who

ACTUALLY is interested in that?? Why do you even bother? Its not like anyone’s going to

buy them? Let alone notice what you’ve painted. What a waste of time. Prob just an excuse

to go home and fuck whatever dude you have on the side. I know you do, there’s no way

you actually like leaving the bar that you’re at with your husband and friends to go home

and paint. You’re full of shit. Just another fucking whore” He spat. “Don’t expect me to home

later than, Ill find woman who actually wants to spend time with me.”

Elle swore his eyes changed from Brown to Black when he drank and he would say things

he didn’t actually mean. He’d wake up sober the next day and it was the same story over

and over. That he’s sorry, he didn’t mean anything he said, that he loves her and he was

having a bad day and he didn’t mean to take it out on her. But this time, his eyes weren’t

just black, they didn’t hold a flicker of love. He meant everything he said. When Elle got

home after, she didn’t paint. She striped of the clothes that smelled like overpriced beer and

smoke got in the shower and tilted her head toward the ceiling, while her tears blended with

the falling water. Logans word were crippling. She’d taken years of verbal abuse and it

never affected her until tonight. He was finally starting to break her. She knew she was

allowing him to let her light fade and she wouldn’t let it happen anymore.

Elle jumps out of bed and does her normal work week routine. Bathroom, try not to trip

over kitty who runs in and out of her legs while she walks to her room, asks Siri what the

temp was going to be for the day? “Its 66 degrees right now, Todays high will be 88 and the

low will be 66. ”fuck.. its going to be so hot today.. what happen to the cool fall weather.

Most of Elles clothes were in storage and even though she hadn switched her summer

clothes for Fall/ winter yet.. she was SO ready for the cool weather. She grabs her crimson

red pants and a black and white leopard print blouse. : Ill look presentable today” she

laughs at herself. She normally just wears a random shirt and spandex, she doesn’t have all

of her clothes so she is short on “outfit options”

Elle makes a quick sandwich, throws some “cuties” and a granola bar into a bag, lets

the dogs out and leave for work. Dreading what 95 was going to be like today, she got on it

anyways. Traffic wasn’t as bad as it normally is on a Monday. Probably because she was more on time than she had been in the last few weeks. She pulls in the parking lot, its still

weird to her not seeing it completely full since Covid. Shes not complaining though, she

hates having to put on a happy face in the morning and even more so now since she has

been fighting depression and “faking happy” everyday a work. She puts her Jeep in park

and looks at the building…: sigh: I should have gotten a coffee. with one swift move, she

grabs her phone off the phone mount and throws it in her bag and gets out. Thinking to

herself “ I need a vacation or something just a few days to unwind and forget that THIS is

now my reality”

Elle’s ex was well known at her work, he was always stopping by to bring her lunch or

something silly, her boss always enjoyed having conversations with him each time he came

to bother Elle, but he stopped surprising her not long after the night he didn’t come home from the bar, when she saw something in his eyes switch to “Evil.

March 28th, 2018.

The date that will be burned into her memory forever. She used to blame herself for her husband’s infidelity, if she hadn’t left to go paint, to just suck it up and hang out at the bar… her husband wouldn’t have ended up in the arms of Jessica Matthews. She had her suspicions for a little bit when she saw a notification on Logans phone, a friend request from Jessica. Since that day, more time was spent on his phone, if he wasn’t on his phone, it was faced down on the counter so she couldn’t see the screen when a notification came through like the day Jessica friended him. March 28th, 2018 the day everything changed. Going to bed alone, waking up in the middle of the night, noticing the bathroom light on and door shut, coming home from work later. The icing on the cake was this new group of “friends” he was hanging out with. They had been together since 2008, she knew everyone he knew. The red flags were all there. Trying to ignore them, she didn’t want to believe it. Until in June… one Friday when he didn’t come home from work. It was passed 8:30, not a call or a text saying he’d be late or he was going anywhere.

Elle calls…

Ring…. Ring….” Your call has been forwarded to an automatic messaging service 301-3**-**** is not available, after the tone please leave a message. BEEP.”

8:47 p.m

“Hey, just seeing where you were... was kinda waiting for you to get home to eat dinner… Let me know”

Not surprised that he didn’t answer… she texts him.

Hey, where are you? – 8:49 p.m.

Will you be home anytime soon? – 9:13 p.m.

Or at all tonight? - 9:18 p.m.

9:36 p.m. -…...

As if he didn’t mean to, his fat thumbs must have touched the keyboard, or maybe he had a moment of empathy and thought he should not ignore his wife and not let her worry. As much as she wishes it was the second one. That he still had some feelings for Elle… He wasn’t going to answer her.

Logan… what are you doing? I saw you typing then stop…-10:28 p.m.

” Your call has been forwarded to an automatic messaging service 301-3**-**** is not available, after the tone please leave a message. BEEP.”

Logan, what the fuck? – 10:45 p.m.

Frustrated and starting to get angry, Elle doesn’t want to assume the worst. She’s trying to keep her cool and not start throwing stuff. There’s not way he would cheat on her… and if he’s where she thinks he is… he wouldn’t get away with it… he’d be stupid to be out with another girl. Elle puts her phone down on the coffee table and picks up her book and tried to keep her mind off Logan. 30mins go by and her phone dings.

11:16 p.m.-Melissa K.

Hey Lady, Ran in to Logan out at Longshots in Hopers Ferry. Sorry to hear you have the flu. Let’s get together soon.

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!! He’s in West Virginia?!

Yea, I’m sorry too. I would have loved to be invited. Sitting at home all night and being ignored by your husband isn’t as much fun. -11:18 p.m.

11:20 p.m.-Melissa K.

Um… he deff said you had the flu.. and it was like he made it up on the spot.. kind of why I texted you…Is something going on??

I honestly can't even tell you…somethings been off for a few months now… secretive. I don’t want think this… but I think Logans cheating on. Who all is he with? - 11:22p.m.

11:25 P.m. Mellissa K.

I don’t even recognize anyone he’s with… except for Ben Davis…. but.. you need to see this…

11:27 p.m. – Melissa K.

{Image} I’m Sorry…want me to go throw my beer in his face?

A group of 5 people… I too only recognize Ben Davis … 2 other guys and 4 girls…and one of the girls is sitting on his lap with her arm around his neck and his hand on her hip.

That fucking piece of shit!! That’s Jessica Matthews sitting on him… I should have fucking known. 11:27p.m.

Elle decided she’s going to act like she doesn’t know. She’ll contact her attorney in the morning… the plus side to being friends with your attorney. you can reach out to them on the weekend. She’s shocked she isn’t as upset as she thought one would be when they find out their Husband of almost 5 years is cheating on them… someone they’ve spent the last decade with. What the fuck is wrong with people. She makes a plan and she’s going to do this.. she’s going to file for divorce.

Elle glances at the clock and see’s it’s a little after midnight…putting her book away... and turning the lights off and locking the front door, Elle changes into her sleep shirt and gets in to bed. Shes’ surprised how tiered she is considering thew news she just learned.

4:39 a.m. Logan comes home. The sound of laughing wakes her up… getting out of bed and looking out the window…this guy is and idiot, isn’t he? He actually had her drive him home. Watching them from their bedroom window... he stands there leaning on the driver side window. When you hear you’re being cheated on.. its one thing to hear about it, but actually seeing you being cheated on with your eyes...its a whole new level of pissed off. Being so angry that you don’t even cry, you don’t want to yell, hit or throw something… you start to laugh... its comical.

There it is.. Jessica grabbed the collar of logans shirt and pulled his face down to hers, as logan cupped the side of her face when their lips touched. This wasn’t their first kiss.. you can tell. They were way to comfortable... more proof that this has been going for far longer than just tonight.

“My life is a fucking joke”.

Getting back in bed almost asleep she hears the door unlock, dropping his keys, cussing, accidently slamming the door. Walking in their bedroom and sitting on the end of the bed. Elle opens her eyes enough to see what he was doing, not that his drunk ass would see her anyways… he’s texting… the sounds of the texts coming and going. Locking his phone and putting it in his pocket he lays down on his back, still in his clothes… still smells like Jessica’s expensive perfume. Laying on her right side facing him… with him having no idea she’s awake.

Elle was hesitant as first, knowing after this there’s no turning back. With a deep breath…

” I’m filing for Divorce”. She watches as his chest stops raising ... not sure if he feels guilty that he’s been caught or does he even care? His silence reassured her that she was making the right choice…if he had an ounce left of love for her… he’d fight or apologize…This asshole rolled over and went to sleep…or passed out.

Dick.

Since that night she’s tried her hardest to ignore all of the decade of memories she has with Logan. Everywhere she goes… he’s there... Its been months… and she’s still upset., but not that her and Logan aren’t together anymore…more so at what happen, her marriage failed… what lead him to cheat?? Was it something she did or didn’t do? Learning experience... If there’s anything to learn from this its, Logans a dick, Jessica’s a whore, always trust your gut… and is love real? But who was she kidding... Logan didn’t have her whole heart… she gave it away a long time ago… and never got it all back... Raiden still had huge part of her heart.