Not every door is meant to be opened. Nor should you peek behind every curtain.
During dinner I asked Jeffrey if I could borrow his new tennis racket. I wanted to try it out. Maybe I would play better. He told me that he lent it to Leon, and he has yet to return it.
I don’t why… but I didn’t believe him.
Jeffrey and I have a big rivalry going on over tennis. We both claim to be the better player. And whenever one of us loses to the other, we always make excuses. It’s either the tennis racket, the balls, the sun in our eyes, or the wind. Or anything else that we can think of.
We have a great time coming up with the most outlandish excuses.
I pretended that I had to go to the bathroom and went upstairs. But instead of opening up the bathroom door, I opened up the closet door. I just wanted to take a peek. I wanted to see if the tennis racket was there.
I didn’t see it.
I started moving some bags around. Maybe it was behind one of them. I picked up one bag and some of its contents fell out the side. A soap dish fell out. My soap dish. May’s soap dish.
What was it doing there?
I started rummaging through the bag that the soap dish fell out of and found an envelope. I opened it and saw pictures of my wife and Jeffery naked. Naked and together. I felt like throwing up. I felt dizzy.
In the photos the both of them looked much younger.
I stumbled into the bathroom and threw some cold water on my face. I felt like I was in shock. I had to compose myself.
I went into Jeffrey’s bedroom and got a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote in capital letters, “ADULTERER.”
I opened up the soap dish and placed the note inside, and also put one of the photos of them both in bed naked. I then closed the lid. I put the soap dish back in the bag.
I went back downstairs.
Jeffrey joked, “I was about to send a scuba diving team up there to look for you. I thought you fell in the water.”
I tried to smile but I couldn’t.
I didn’t say anything about him and my wife. What I just discovered. How could I say anything? Jeffrey’s girlfriend was there.
I’m a very proud man. And a proud man like me doesn’t like being humiliated. Doesn’t like airing his dirty laundry out in public.
Is there any greater humiliation, than another man that is your best friend, sleeping with your wife?
I pretended that I wasn’t feeling that well. And I really didn’t have to pretend. I wasn’t feeling well.
We left early.
When we got home I didn’t say anything to May about her affair with Jeffrey. I didn’t know what to say. My mind was so cluttered with emotions that I couldn’t think straight.
That night I couldn’t fall asleep.
The thought of Jeffery, my best friend, and my wife together haunted me. I found myself crying. I found myself wondering about how many years they were involved with each other. Were they still seeing each other?
And how many times when we were all together… Were Jeffrey and my wife exchanging sly glances, whispers and smiles, as secret lovers do?
And how many other people knew? Her family and our friends?
Was I the only one left in the dark? Unaware? Was I the brunt of their jokes?
How sad it is to be betrayed by someone that you love. And I did love her.
I knew it from the first moment that we met. The first time that I touched her.
I knew that I would be enslaved to her for all my life. For what is love but some kind of enslavement?
I would exhaust and spend my time and life pleasing her. I would do her bidding. I would place her on a pedestal.
Did she fall out of love with me? That’s understandable.
It happens.
Couldn’t she have let me down easily? Give me some time. If she no longer loved me… let me down gently.
Not like this! Not with my best friend! Not behind my back!
A depression that I have never felt before… gripped my soul. I’m hurting terribly. Is there anything about my life that is free of lies and deception?
Negative thoughts seem to come in bunches. And when you go down that road… it gets darker and darker.
My love for May was turning into hatred.
Betrayal by your spouse… the unkindest cut of all.
That morning I let out all my pent up anger. I knew I had to get away from her. I was so mad with May that I felt like hurting her.
And now I felt like turning the car around. I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back there and kill her. And afterward myself.
My thoughts were painting scenarios of horror. The canvas showed the corpses of two people… me and May.
My eyes were turning red. Blood red!
The Story will be continued in The Soap Dish 3
Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash
Fictional stories by John Saccone 
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