Short story derived from the photo below.
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Four women died while Jessica Ford tried to make a decision. The number could be higher, but she knew about four. As horrible as it was she couldn’t be rushed into such a big life change. After 45 minutes alone, sobbing and retching into a trash can in her daughter’s bedroom she began to think clearly again.

It was amazing how normal the morning had started out. She had cooked breakfast and then said goodbye as Daniel headed out to drop Olivia at school on his way to work. “I love you,” he said as he always did. She kissed him back and tried not to cringe at his words. He had no idea that she knew. She stared at him from behind as he disappeared down the driveway poking and teasing their daughter. His crew cut was still as blond as the day she met him 18 years ago. Daniel had also been able to retain his ultra thin build by running every lunch break on the treadmill at work.  Once they pulled away she started through the motions of her daily routine, staying un-bathed and in sweatpants as she cleaned house. It had become a way of life for her to avoid thinking about Daniel’s extra curricular activities and what she should do about it.

As she opened Olivia’s bedroom door, she let out a deep sigh. Scanning the disaster of a room, she noted there was barely an inch of floor visible. Is this how all 12 year old girls keep their bedroom? Jessica figured it probably was, but what made it different from most other pre-teen rooms was the life. Life everywhere. The far wall was lined with 4 different tanks. The frog tank always had the most action with colorful creatures swimming back and forth and others diving off the tiny floating rock straight to the bottom. In between each tank were different plants; the one next to the frog tank had vines climbing around a thin wire that Olivia had positioned around the lip of the tank and along the wall. Jessica could barely keep ivy alive, so she didn’t know where her daughter picked this up, but she was obviously talented.  Every birthday or Christmas list was riddled with items needed for some new project Olivia wanted to start.

In the dark room a neon blue glow caught her eye. Jessica made her way across the room picking up stray socks and shoes on her way. This was Olivia’s newest addition, the ant farm. It was different from the traditional soil based habitats of Jessica’s youth. The container was filled with a special blue gel that doubled as food and the walls of the tank magnified the contents that were lit up from below. Watching the action in this glowing vessel was addicting. The mindless movements of these tiny beings were similar to how Jessica had been living for the past 18 months. The little workers climbed over one another concerned only with the task at hand. Along the bottom in the longest tunnel there appeared to be a mass of ants, but on closer inspection it became apparent they were dead. This is what set her off.

All the news reports, printed stories and even local gossip had been glossed over by Jessica but these insignificant dead ants sent her over the edge. She immediately ran to the trashcan by the iguana tank, barely reaching it in time as she regurgitated her entire breakfast. The heaves continued well after the food was gone. Stands of her long brown hair, soaked in a mixture of vomit and tears, stuck to her face and she didn’t attempt to move them. This was the moment she realized she had to do something even if it meant her entire life would be ruined. And Olivia’s too.

She truly believed the deaths were in part her fault. If she had given him what he wanted, he wouldn’t have gone elsewhere. He wouldn’t have gone after someone’s daughter or sister. The turning point had been two years ago when she told her otherwise perfect husband that she didn’t want to go any further in his sexual experiments. Jessica was a little embarrassed by some of the things he had her do, but she was also turned on by the fact that she knew she was getting him off. He tied her up and ripped her clothes off, she was into it too and the sex that followed made her burn for a repeat performance. The time he tried to choke her was a different story. Daniel tied her up and quit responding to her completely. Then he took the silky belt from her robe and wrapped it around her neck twice while he entered her. He was close to climax within seconds and he tightened the binding hard and fast as he finished. The whole thing was over in moments and she was shocked. The moment her hands were free she jerked both hands to her neck and started crying. He said all the right things as they discussed it. Even though he was saying that he understood it made her uncomfortable and he wouldn’t bring it up again, his eyes were darker than usual and his voice was flat and without feeling. After that they went back to missionary position twice a week as it had been for years before. She felt guilt for letting him down, but she never guessed that he would search elsewhere for these urges.

Going to the police seemed like the only option, but how would she tell them that she knew? Will they understand that I knew for over a year and did nothing? Will they even believe me? They probably would, but she would have to tell them the whole story back from the very first time. The first clue.

 Daniel never stayed up past 10:30. His head was on that pillow the same time every night, so the first time Jessica woke up at 2am to find his side of the bed deserted she assumed he must have gotten up to get an Alka-seltzer. Ordering pizza usually did this to him, so she felt guilty for not cooking a healthier dinner. As she began to drift back to sleep she was awakened by the silence. The lack of noise in the house worried her, as she should have heard him shifting around if he was up.  Jessica forced herself upright and piloted her feet along the edge of the bed until they made landing in her slippers. She shuffled her way through the house until she realized he was gone and then she became instantly awake. A glance out the front window confirmed that his car was also AWOL. Her husband was gone in the middle of the night. An attempt at calling his cell phone proved pointless when she heard the muted sound of the doorbell ringtone that Daniel had set for calls from home. She followed the sound to the front door where his jacket was vibrating and the doorbell continued to bing-bong from his pocket. This meant he probably left in a hurry, but why didn’t he wake her? She quickly ran upstairs to Olivia’s room to find her fast asleep to the buzz of fish tank filters and humming heaters. Her daughter said they helped her sleep, an added bonus to allowing this all in her room instead of the back porch room that Jessica initially suggested.

Realizing that pacing was useless she returned to bed and attempted sleep. She could think of no logical reason for Daniel to leave without telling her, but she couldn’t overreact or it would create more problems. Sleep never did come and by 6am when she was past worrying about another woman and had moved on to considering her plan on calling local hospitals she saw the car lights throw shadows across the room as his car pulled into it’s usual spot. She wanted to rush to the door and drill him on his whereabouts, but she didn’t move a muscle as she listened to him creak open the door and move slowly through the house. She was sure she heard the laundry room door then the garage door. There was quiet rustling and then the doors again. She was shocked when she saw him slink through the door in only his boxer shorts straight to disarm his alarm clock which usually sounded at 6:30 before he headed straight for the bathroom. Where were his clothes? In the laundry? In the garage? He took a fast shower and began his morning ritual as Jessica lay in bed fuming over his oblivious nature and lack of explanation. Finally when he sat on the crossover to put on his shoes she sat up and began her interrogation. “Daniel, where have you been?”

He jumped a little when she spoke. “Oh sorry, Honey, I didn’t realize you were awake. I, um, could . . .not . . . sleep at all. Thinking about this database I’m working on right now. Eh . . .I was afraid I was making too much racket wondering the house, so I got up and drove around a bit, grabbed some coffee at a quick shop with a booth and wrapped my head around my database sketches a little bit. I made some good progress on them, so my day should be much easier now.”

So deeply she wanted to believe this, but she still wasn’t sure. “What time did you leave?”

“It wasn’t too long, I probably left at about 4am or so. I’m sorry I woke you up earlier than usual.” Now she knew he was lying. There was surely another woman. Daniel must be cheating.

She continued through the rest of her morning avoiding conversation as much as possible. And as soon as her family had left for the morning she searched for Daniel’s clothes and evidence of this other woman. She dug through the laundry basket and was confused to find only towels as usual. She moved on into the garage and scanned the area for a pile of clothes, but found nothing. As she turned to head back in she noticed the box of trash bags had been knocked over and one was half pulled out. She hated when Olivia left this kind of mess and she couldn’t stand to leave it that way. Cleaning up Daniel and Olivia’s mess was her job, she thought as she walked over to straighten it. As she leaned down by the trashcan she was struck by an unfamiliar smell. It was reminiscent of turpentine or gasoline; she wasn’t sure what it was. Her sense of smell was uncanny and it drove Olivia crazy, because she constantly complained of the odors that all the little creatures presented in the house.

This smell was new to her senses; it seemed like iron and acetone or some strong cleaning solution. Maybe Olivia was trying to clean some rust off something. She lifted the trashcan lid and saw nothing unusual at first, but curiosity made her lift a bag or two and then she saw it. A small bag that had multiple red tie cords coming out of the mouth indicating that whatever was in there was double or even triple bagged. On no, what did Olivia get into now? She thought as she grabbed for it. Opening it she expected the scent to be much stronger, but instead it changed to more of a smoke and gasoline smell. At first it appeared to be some rags or towels, but as she peered deeper she recognized Daniel’s black sweat pants and then one of his many Baltimore Orioles t-shirts. She constantly teased him about having so many shirts that looked exactly the same, but he added to his fan boy collection every few months. Everything changed when she realized these were the clothes Daniel had worn around the house last night and must have been what he put back on when he left to meet his whore. She grabbed at the box of trash bags and pulled one out to lie on the floor before she dumped the contents of the bag. There was definitely rust on the orange t-shirt and upon further inspection even on the black pants. She rubbed a part of it on her thumb and the consistency of it was gooey and the color was more red than orange. Oh my god, this is blood! What the hell happened last night? Maybe he got in a fight and didn’t want to tell her? That didn’t seem like him, but maybe he was embarrassed. He might have actually been out writing his stupid database design after all. She bagged it all back up and put it back in the trash feeling like a bitch for not even noticing if he was hurt or embarrassed, but only assuming he was cheating. It was confusing though. Many questions popped into her mind throughout the day, like why his socks were in there and why it smelled like a campfire.

Daniel was home promptly at 6pm and asking what was for dinner with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. It was hard to avoid inspecting him for wounds and even harder when she realized there were none.  As usual Jessica had the evening news on as background noise while cooking dinner. WGAL was the Lancaster station and was the closest news for them in Mt. Joy. Usually the news droned on in the background unless something caught her attention as it did tonight. Apparently early that morning the body of a twenty something female was found on the side of the road in Mt. Joy. This was a shock since there was rarely mention of Mt. Joy on the news, let alone death. The body was found on fire just after six in the morning on the side of a county road as a local man was heading out for his commute.  He extinguished the fire, but the girl was already dead.

Jessica’s attention was fully on the TV until she noticed Daniel had stepped in from the hallway and was watching the news story as well. Her attention turned to him and she noticed how he was nervously grinding his hand on his hip and rocking on his right foot. She connected the dots. The blood, the gasoline, the smoke and the lies all made sense. As the story progressed over the next few days it turned out that the young lady had been last seen leaving a local bar at 2am and her cause of death had been strangulation. According to the news she had been raped and stabbed as well. It was horrific news for their community and even more so for Jessica.

There was no correct way to handle this situation. She couldn’t confront Daniel because she could still be wrong and if she was right she didn’t want to know. What would happen to Olivia? It didn’t make sense to her as Daniel had never been violent. He didn’t even like to give Olivia a spanking when she was acting up as a child. She held a great debate in her head for days and then decided she couldn’t bring herself to ruin her daughter’s life or her own over something she wasn’t sure about.

 Sleeping was no longer an option for Jessica. She would lie in bed next to this stranger that she once loved and doze in and out. Since that first night there had been at least four more murders in the surrounding area on nights when Daniel had gone out for a drive in the middle of the night. Murders in which young women were brutalized and strangled to death. After the second one, Jessica completely shut down to the world around her. She began to hope for her husband’s death. For him to be hit by a car or even stabbed to death by some young woman that he didn’t expect to fight back. She had no idea how she was going to support Olivia when Daniel was finally caught. There is no insurance for a family whose breadwinner raped and murdered women.

But here she was and this was her reality. She was disgusted with her lack of courage. How many more women could she allow to die while she said nothing? The movement of the trashcan contents sloshing around as she made her way a few feet to Olivia’s bathroom brought on another wave of nausea. When she reached the toilet nothing came out with her heaves, so she emptied the trash can and began cleaning it out in the bathtub. As it filled with water she snatched the washcloth and stuck it in the stream of water then turned to the mirror as she washed her face. The reflection was so different than 2 years earlier. All the weight loss had produced gaunt features that she would have begged for as a teenager. Her skin had a gray tinge to it she assumed was from a lack of sleep and sunshine. Leaning in for a closer inspection she noticed that even her eyes seemed different and darker.

She and Olivia would have to move and start a new life and this is how it would have to be. She guessed they would have to stick around for a while answering questions for police while dodging camera crews and news reporters and waiting for the house to sell. Would the house of a serial killer bring in more money? Obviously her daughter would have to start counseling after finding out that the father she loved so much was really a monster. Jessica would have to explain to all of her closest friends and family how she could have been married to David Henry Ford the serial killer and not know what he was. And she would have to find an answer, because they could never know the truth.