The Day I Die

In exactly five days from today I will be dead but I don't know it yet. My name is James and here is a story about how I die.

It's 5:41 in the morning on a Tuesday.
I reach out for my phone, it should be somewhere on the bed as I grope through the sheets. There's a message from Virginia, she's my lifesaver of a Secretary. Message reads that she has filed the documents I failed to and there's a meeting by 2p.m that I mustn't miss.

This time of the day is my best. I get to enjoy some measure of serenity, before the chaos that awaits begin. I just lay there in bed thinking about how my life would have turned out if I hadn't married Shirley.
It's not like I regret it, I don't but I guess every married man does wonder about it. You know, what if it was the other girl. In my story, the other girl is my secretary. I loved her or maybe still do but she met me at the wrong time; I was already engaged to my wife.
What did I do? I lied to her to have an affair till I couldn't anymore. As you could imagine, she was devastated but to my amazement she didn't quit the job. She just continued being my secretary and so here we are. Everyday, I go to work to see the woman that would have been and being utterly unable to do a thing about it because of this damn ring on my finger.

Let me tell you about my story with Virginia. I met her at a friend's Wedding. She came in looking strange without a smidgen of make up, I mean who comes to a wedding with a t-shirt, jean and sneakers and no make up at all. She asked if the sit next to mine was taken. It was but I told her it wasn't she had a certain je ne sais quoi that made me want her to sit next to me.
I asked her the last time she cried. She looked at me puzzled and said who asks that as a conservation opener?
I told her I do and I think she's one of those people who act not to care but care way too much.
She wore a smile and said she wasn't going to consider me smart for coming up with that, it wasn't that hard to guess.
Talk after talk till it was time to leave. I asked her for her number and she told me she wasn't going to in that moment. She made me a bet that if we see each other again in the space of a week, she wasn't only going to give me my number She would come and visit me.
I liked the challenged and didn't want to lose. So, I asked around about where she stayed and got the information off a friend of hers. On the 6th day, I went over to visit her. I knocked on the door with a box of cookies in my hand, to my surprise, an elderly man opened the door and said
"Can I help you?"

I stuttered, "Good evening Sir,..."

"It's Afternoon, you're looking for Virginia?"

"Yes Sir"

"Daddy, who is that? " She said approaching the door.

"You? What are you doing here? Daddy he's my new friend. "

She was elated seeing shiver in fear of her Dad.

"You must be a bad boy to fear my Dad so much, you want to hurt his daughter"
She joked as she walked me to the sitting room.

We talked so much that day till it was getting late.
On her promised visit, I tried to initiate the first kiss, she literally ran out of my house. I had concluded she suffered from Philemaphobia until we had a talk about it. She made me wait 30 days for a kiss; it was a taste of hell for me but I have to admit that waiting so long did make the first kiss super special.
I had her work for me as my secretary because her job as an attendant at a Hotel was a joke. She was paid pennies. She didn't like the idea at first but I guess the offer was too good to refuse.

The first Sex? Here's the saddest part. I was her very first. A horrible person like me was her very first. She found out about my fiancè 2 weeks after her first Sex.
Nothing could hurt more. I remember she cried so much till she was admitted in the hospital.
I know it's hard to believe, but I did love Virginia and never intended for it go that far and end that bad. That's life sometimes.
My soon to be wife caught us kissing at the office after work hours and made me swear on my life that I would never have anything to do with her again.
She promised to kill me if I did.
That was it for me and Virginia.




Martha, that's my 5 year old daughter. She runs in asking to sleep next to me because she's scared but she never sleeps. It's one question then another till it's time for school and work for me. Just like that, the chaos I dread begins.

My Wife? She's out of town, she's a Doctor and never really around much. I'm not complaining, I've come to terms with her absence but it's just that sometimes a Man has needs. She does make effort though to reach out. A call every morning, afternoon and night. She calls to Tell me about her night, the stories and when she would be back and like a good, supportive husband I have to hide my desperation and listen to the stories, laugh at the jokes and say those 3 words.

I and my Wife were never this estranged, we were once inseparable; we couldn't do without seeing each other in a week and were very sexual people. We had sex the very first day we met.
We met at party, she had just concluded her final exams and wanted to do something out of the ordinary. She came to me on my table sitting alone as the friends I had come with went to get booze. She asked if I came alone. I told her it depended on what she wanted to ask for.
She smiled and said she wanted someone to do something crazy with and forget all about it tomorow.

"I'm hard to forget"
That was my reply and yes, that crazy thing she wanted to do was have sex with a complete stranger.
We had sex at my place but after it, we talked. She was so smart and pretty and couldn't stop telling her that she was. Maybe it was the alcohol or the good sex but I reached out for a rubber band and made a ring of it and told her I'm going you someday, say yes to me now till I can afford a real ring.
She smiled, called me sweet and said yes. That was the start of our love story. The truth is i don't know where exactly we got it wrong in our marriage but we just did. We lost the fire.
Well, I Do miss my wife and can't wait to see her in 7 days time.

8:21 that morning, I'm sitting in my office considerably idle and I look through the glass to see Virginia, something was odd; she had flowers on her table with a pack of chocolate.
I was curious and so I asked her to come in my office.

"You've got a boyfriend or is someone trying to steal you away from me"
I joked.
She laughs and says "sir,..."
"Virginia, don't call me that. You know I hate it when you do that"

"I'm sorry Sir, I think I will get back to work now"

Sometimes, I think she does this 'Sir' thing to rub it on my face that I lost her and damn does it work.
I take a walk to her table and find out who it could be from. It read "love, Superman".

"You have a superman now?"

She smiled in a way all too familiar as she said sort of.
I haven't been filled with so much jealousy like this in decades.
I wanted to see this superman and find out what's so super about him anyway.

5:12pm
Virginia stayed behind after work hour was over.

"Aren't you done with filing?"

"I am but I've got some more work to finish before I'm almost done"

I didn't believe her, she was waiting for something or someone. I wanted to know And so I asked that I'll stay with her and help. As expected, she declined and promised to take care of it herself.
I wasn't buying that and so I stayed.
In about 10mins, a young fully bearded man walked in.
Okay, I'm lying.
He was more than fully bearded and young. He was utterly hunky and handsome.

"Good evening Mr James"
He said in the voice of a baby. It was ironic to me, I had never seen such mismatch as his voice to his frame.

I greet him back as I watched him take Virginia away.
In that moment I had one thing in mind; to win Virginia back.


                                            ☆☆☆☆

It's Wednesday.
9 in the morning. I get a call from Virginia asking me why I haven't reported for work. I tell her I'm ill and won't be making it and asked if she could stop by to check on me before she heads home.
She agrees and asked about medications.

5:11pm
Virginia is at the house, the smile on my face on seeing her gave it away that my health was whole.

"What did you say was wrong with you again?"

"Malaria"

"Like this? You look healthier than you were yesterday "

"Have a sit V, I feel better now that you're here"

She sat down, crossed her legs, took off her glasses and said,

"James, I know what you're about to try, there's no use.
Allow me move on. Allow me to be happy"

I should have listened but i didn't. Instead I said the words that marked the beginning of my end. I told her how every morning I thought about her and that I look at her everyday through the glass at the office.
I told her that I loved her still and I have never stopped.

"Dad, who are you loving?"
Martha said with a frown.

"Hey sweetheart no-one. You're the only one I love"

"Who is she?"

"My old friend, she works with Daddy"

In that moment, I wished I didn't have a kid.

"I have to go James"

I couldn't say anything more. It hit me that if anything was going to happen, it was never going to be in this house.
Later that night, I called to no replies and it continued for 3 days more. On the 3rd day she sent a message that she was quitting the job.
Virginia must have known without a scintilla of doubt that I wasn't quitting on her so soon, she would always say that the most attractive side of me was my resilience.

                                         ☆☆☆☆☆

What did I do next?
I went to visit her and I bought her a jar of nutella, yoghurt and The Fault In Our Stars in BluRay.
To me, it was the perfect idea of seduction. I asked that we stay in, eat chocolate and watch the movie we've watched a million times together.
In some way, she agreed and asked that pillows separates us.
Thank you Augustus Walters for dying; that scene gets to her every time. Tears rolled down as I reached out to hold her with my arms running down her hair. I lean even forward and she she whispers
"Please don't ruin the moment"

Those words flew into one ear and left through the next.
I looked her in the eye and asked that she be utterly honest with my next question
"Yeah..."

"Do you still love me?"

"I don't know James, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't"

"Do you love me now?"

"I can't answer that" as she turns away

"Thats all the answer I need"

As I reached out for her neck with a kiss.
She pushed me away unconvincingly and i pulled her closer, made the bold move and kissed her. She wouldn't kiss back at first but I kissed her still till she kissed back and even deeper. In moments, the room was hotter she kissed down to my neck and nipples.
Old make out memories ran through all corners of my mind. She paused, got a dab of the nutella and kissed down to my hollows. I may have passed out at some point with excitement.

I turned her over and stared at her ample breasts with a smile. She leaned forward to kiss me and said
"You like breasts too much"
It was my turn with the nutella and made chocolate out of the nipples.
Before 'entry', she looked to the ceiling and said to herself I know I'm going to regret this.
Every stroke was beyond pleasurable until a knock ruined the moment.
She had all my clothes thrown at me and ask that I hid in the bathroom as she rushed to wear just anything.
It was her boyfriend, the room had the undeniable scent of sex and he was furious.

"Where is he? Tell me where!!!"
As he raised the bed over and slammed the doors of the wardrobe.
I hurriedly wore my clothes and came out of the bathroom.
Virginia ran to Him telling him to calm down promising to explain everything but how do you calm a Man who finds his girlfriend cheating with her boss.

"Hey bro, Relax, I'm sorry this looks this baaaaa"
I was interrupted with a blow to my mouth. He grabbed me by my shirt, raised me off the ground and threw me back to the ground yelling I will kill you today.
I wasn't going to get myself beaten without a fight and so I tried to fight back. I knew I wasn't going to win fighting fist to fist. I reached out for the chair and hit him on the head with it. He fell to the floor unconscious. Virginia screamed in disbelief .

"What have you done? You've killed him?"

She runs to me hitting me as hard as she can and crying. I was overwhelmed by the incident entirely, I couldn't say anything to pacify Virginia. All I wanted was to go home and wait for my wife to be back.

"He has a pulse, do something..."
I didn't care if he had a pulse or not. As I reached out for my car keys to run out of the mess, there was another knock on the door.
Guess who it was? My freaking wife.
Could the day get any worse. I begged the ground to open up so I could fall in.
What was she doing here? Why did she come earlier than scheduled?
It's all thanks to my 5 year old daughter.
She had called her mom with my phone the day she overheard me tell Virginia that I loved her to Tell her mom that I was loving another woman.
My Wife knew, it had to be my Secretary.
For years, she had always been insecure knowing that the Secretary I had an affair with still worked with me. She would joke around about how she would kill me if she ever found out that I was sleeping with her.
Well, I was about to find out how much of a joke it was.

She ran towards me in tears
"Why, why would you do this to me, I trusted you"
"Who's that?"
As she points towards Virginia's boyfriend on the floor who is already gainining consciousness with the meanest of looks on his face.
"Her Boyfriend "
He answers pointing to Virginia.
My Wife, still in tears walks to the kitchen and scrambles over cutleries as my heart raced.
The boyfriend walks over to the door and locks it with the keys
Virginia has hate for me painted on every side of her face as she stares into my soul.

Right in front of me, is 3 people with every reason to want me dead. I just kept on wondering who is going to do it.
I wasn't willing to die as some sacrificial lamb, I had two options.
To talk my way out of this one or to leave here violently.
I chose the former.
I reached out to my wife

"Sweetheart, I love you, I just made a mistake. It's the very last I promise. I was carried away with your absence it's nothing more."

She orders the boyfriend and Virginia to hold me down and tie me up.
I fought them off with all the fight I had left in me to no avail. I was tied up helplessly awaiting my fate.
I was made the face the window.
I looked through to see the sun settling down over the clouds. It was such a beautiful site and might as well be my last.
Movies lie about a man's dying moments. They are never slow or well, mine wasn't. The panic never stopped, I couldn't get myself to accept that I was about to die. Deep down, I prayed for any kind of help to save me from this moment. Be it angels falling from the sky or the police breaking in. None happened.

After a brief conversation among themselves, I could two people leaving the room. I didn't know who.

"Where are you guys going, what are you guys doing"
I yelled.

"Honey please don't do this, I love you"
I begged with tears rolling down.

Someone walked towards me gently. It felt like man's movement and touched my head gently as a lady would. Whoever it was reached for my chin, raised my head upward and the very last thing I remember was the outpouring of blood as my veins on my neck were slit.
Gasps after Gasps till I was no more, oblivious of who my killer was.