Run For Your Life by Philip Anthony Smith

Author:Philip Anthony Smith [Smith, Philip Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

11

AN OLD FRIEND

Iducked and dived from every plate we owned being thrown at me at high speed. When she ran out of ammunition, she came at me beating at my chest with her fists. I tried to restrain her lightly, but she was strong, fuelled by the rage of what she had just seen. Her wailing was deafening, it wasn’t even words anymore. The broken pieces of ceramic and clay on the floor perfectly symbolised our marriage, smashed and broken beyond repair. She slumped back on the only standing dining chair in fatigue. She could barely look at me without gritting her teeth. I had never seen her like this before.

“How could you do this to me? To us? To Dylan?” she bellowed.

“You weren’t here Courtney, I tried, and you weren’t interested.”

“You tried? You rang my phone a few times, big deal. You never even came round to try and see us.”

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

“I didn’t, but you should have tried.”

“Listen, I can explain.”

I couldn’t explain. I couldn’t even begin to explain. Was I capable of reciting anything other than cliches? She had every right to be absolutely furious. I had screwed up, royally. Her fit of rage had paused for a moment in response to what I had just said. Another meaningless evasion of the truth coming out of my mouth. I felt ashamed.

“Oh really? I don’t think I need an explanation, Sean. It’s pretty plain to me, it looks like you were snogging some blonde tart in her sports car on our doorstep.”

“Yeah, that happened. But you don’t know why.”

She laughed madly. “Why?”

“Yes, why.”

“Go on then, enlighten me. God this is going to be good.”

This was it. The moment. I stood at the crossroads once again. I wouldn’t be given the chance to tell her the truth ever again. I needed to be honest. Fully lay bare who I am and what I’ve become. If she accepts me, we have a chance. Otherwise, it’s definitely over.

“Jordan died.”

“Who the hell is Jordan?”

“Jordan from work, who I went for a run with.”

“Okay?”

“He was murdered, whilst we were on the run.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I’d lost my job, I found that app, and I thought if you found out about Jordan, you would stop me using it. It is the only thing that has been keeping our heads above water.”

“Okay. That’s terrible, obviously. But what has that got to do with the slapper outside?”

“I carried on running. And I got kidnapped by the same people who murdered Jordan.”

“You got kidnapped?”

Her anger subsided for a moment. A part of her obviously still cared about me, I could tell. You can’t turn off 12 years of marriage like a switch. I just needed to continue being honest, tell her everything, and it would be okay. We can build on it.

“Yes. And the only way I escaped is I killed one of them.”

“Sean, you’ve killed someone?”

“It was him or me, I promise you. They had me tied up in this room with loads of knives, they were going to torture me and kill me.

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