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Written By N. K.

 

It was a typical Wednesday. Mrs Steward visited the grocery store and returned with almost empty bags, Rod distributed the newspapers to all the tenants pretentiously forgetting John, Alessa was fighting on the phone with her boyfriend and Mr. Joy was knocking her door disturbed while Brian spilt his coffee all over the stairs again in a rush to get into his car, late for work — again. But Simon was still in the shower and the keys were still moving back and forth on the lock. These small pieces of shaped metal with incisions cut to fit the wards of a particular lock, obviously have not yet found the one they match and their movements were evidence of their inclination to escape their position. Yet, no one was coming to take them away.

The hot water was running down fast and Simon wanted it to run even faser so that its force could cover all the other sounds in his head. The slam on the door, most of all. The steaming sensation he was feeling down his spine was soothing for a moment until he lifted his head and stood tall in the middle of the enclosure and it all started coming up against his head again.

Her screaming voice, her arguments, his deafening silence that proved her right, the punch in his face when he admitted it, his kissing on her palm over and over, the very same palm that hit him, her anguish to put on her shoes and disappear as quickly as possible, his begging her stay, the bang on the door and keys left hanging helplessly.

Simon bent his head down over the tile of the shower. In the humid environment he had created he could mirror himself on them and in order not to see his face, he wrote her name on the tiles that depicted him. It evaporated quickly which for a moment created a sense of easiness Simon was craving to believe in. The easy way to act, the easy way out of the wrong act, the easy love, the easy life. The easy questions and their answers. ”Ask no questions and you get no lies.” a trembling voice inside him, though, confirmed that he had no thruths to share.

The Wednesday was passing him and Simon, still under the shower, was trying to wash it away. But it lingered. It was not even dark yet. Thus, he decided to face it. Or at least, to admit why he wanted a new dawn, a new day, so badly.

”She cannot know. She must not know. She will never understand that all my hideous actions were just to protect her. She will consider it all lies.” He touched the tap and the water stopped running. The words along with it. Simon gasped but kept on talking to Wednesday’s air in the atmosphere in a last attempt to make it leave. ”I never really maned up to the consequences until today. A fraud, cheating, other women, running away, addiction. But, no matter all of these, no matter how out of control I am, how much of a liar, all I really know is that she is the only reason I am trying.” His gasping was still intense but he could feel every inch of his skin suck the drops of water that had remained on his body, greedily.

Fresh air was blowing from the kitchen windows and its breeze cleared Simon’s head for a while. He wanted this to last more when he realised it wouldn’t by the sound at the door. He ran out of the bathroom naked with the water creating ponds on the living room floor. The first thing that burst into his head was her. She might have forgotten something and came back to look for it. However, soon he realised he was the witness of a victory. It was a glorious win taking place in front of his own eyes. The sudden, violent slam on the door gave the keys their freedom and they found themselves between Simon’s feet on the floor.

Simon kneeled on his knees and touched them. Glancing at them he realised they were her keys. Her soft voice conquered his head, while ponds of water still grew around him. ”Don’t worry. Come here, lie next to me. In fact, when you think we’ve lost, that is when we are winning.” She sealed her words with a deep kiss and covered him with their blanket.

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