Tunnel Visioned

“You know what Jason? I’m done! Just go, you’ve made your choice. I can’t believe you would do this, after everything we’ve been through together! I should have known you’d follow your dick to the ends of the earth instead of me.”

“Come on, be reasonable. I’m not doing this for me or for my dick. It’s for my- our kids. I’m thinking about their future. And yours for that matter. They’ll grow up royal, in a palace. You’ll still be their mother, just behind the scenes, elevated by their status. I’m actually being noble here. I’m marrying the princess for your advantage and the children’s.”

“Noble!? You think it’s noble to leave me for her after I left my home for you? After I drugged my father, dismembered my brother for you, and saved your life again and again? That’s what you call noble!?” She throws her hands in the air and begins pacing. “Your fame is thanks to me. I made the ointments that saved your life, I deceived my people to help you escape. Your every success is mine, and now you leave me? Jason, I have nobody else. I have no friends, no family here. You and the kids are the only people left in this world I love. You’re taking them away, and I should be grateful?”

“Look, I didn’t ask you to fall in love with me, it was a cupid’s arrow that did it, not me. You’re being overly emotional and kind of unfair. I saved you from that backwater you called a country and gave you a new life. Besides, this royal marriage is business, nothing more.” He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

“You’re smarter than this. Right now you sound so foolish.”

She looks up at him, her eyes burning with tears and fury. “I gave up everything for you. I’m a murderer, a traitor, a fugitive for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to do any of that! God, you’re being so emotional right now. Haven’t you considered my needs? What would it look like if I was still married to someone like you? Your country is dirty, they can’t have that in the royal palace. I’m securing our future in society, and you attack me for it?”

Her eyes go wide and her cheeks are ablaze. She turns away from him, breath snagging in her throat.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. I need to get back to the palace, the king and I have a tee time. Send the boys to me when they wake up, will you?” He leaves, the door shuts, echoing in the cold room.

“How could he? How could he?” She whispers. “He’s so tunnel-visioned on legacy and his goddamn future that he’s just willing to cast me aside like I’m shit? After I stayed by his side for years? Who the fuck does he think he is?” She lets out a short, bitter laugh, finding the thought of his betrayal so absurd it’s actually funny. Then another, louder. Her laughter gets louder and louder until she’s convulsing on the floor, screaming and cackling.

“I’ll kill him! I’ll–” She laughs once, her hands tangling her thick black hair. Then suddenly, she stops.

“No. Not him. Her. That crystal-covered princess who thinks she can take him from me.” Her mind races. The idea lands clear and sharp. She scrambles to her feet and yanks open the wardrobe. Inside is the dress Jason bought for the princess as a gift. She carries it to the garage. In the corner, she spies Jason’s old jerry cans. Her eyes never blink as she douses the whole thing in gasoline. Once it’s dripping, she hangs it back up and waits for it to dry.

“She’ll put it on,” she murmurs. “Because it’s a gift from my boys. She’ll smile and twirl and thank them. And then… the king! Mr. Never-without-a-cigarette. He’ll light her up.” She exhales. “Good, they’re taken care of. I won’t even think about them again. But that won’t be enough. It’ll be sad, sure, but I have to make sure Jason has nothing.” The next thought crawls into her head like a knife. Something she was horrified for even considering.

“The boys.” Her breath catches. “If I take them away from him, then he’ll truly have nothing. Nothing.” She hangs her head. “Forgive me, but this betrayal is crushing me. If Jason takes them away, I’ll have nothing left. I’ll be no one.” She looks up, eyes dry.

“I have to take their lives so he can never have them. Erase his name. Only then will he feel as crushed as I do, when his children are dead.” A sharp intake of breath. “It sounds insane saying it out loud, but I’ve never felt saner.”

Her eyes flick up to their bedroom door. She paints kindness in her eyes and a pleasant smile on her face and walks lightly to the door. The door creaks as she opens it slowly, her beautiful boys snoring quietly in their little twin beds. She leans over both beds at once, brushing their foreheads.

“Wake up, my angels,” she whispers. Her voice is sugar-sweet. They blink slowly and listen with rapt attention to their mother. She opens the box and lays the dress inside, smoothing it flat.

“Take this to the palace,” she tells them. “Give it to the princess. Then come right home.” They take the box with reverent hands, faces glowing. Her smile mirrors theirs as she watches them go.

They climb the gleaming marble steps to the princess’ chambers, pride shining on their faces.

“A gift from our mother,” one says, holding out the box. The other kneels beside him, proud as a prince. She accepts it with grace and says,

“Thank you, my sweet boys. I have so much planned for us, very soon, you’ll be living here, with us and your life will be simpler then.” The boys look up at her in excitement. “Now run along, you still must be good to her.” They comply, high on a job well done, running all the way home. The princess takes the dress out of the box and beholds it. She beams at the ornate fabric, the jewels and diamonds that gleam at the collar. She lifts it close, it smells a little.

“Old house,” she mutters. “It’ll air out.” It’s so beautiful, she can’t help but put it on for a moment. She’s still adjusting the sleeves when she hears her father and her fiancée in the hall.

“Those greens were slow today, gotta adjust my short game.” says the king through his cigarette. The princess bursts out of her room, twirling and shining in her new dress.

“Oh honey, you look stunning! Is it what you dreamed?” Jason says, genuinely admiring her.

“It’s everything I ever wanted.” She stops spinning and looks deeply into him. “Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure.” She pulls back with a smile before focusing on her father, arms wide.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” He embraces her and nods, hot cigarette ash falling onto her shoulder. In an instant, she’s burning. The fabric ignites with a hiss, then a roar. Flames race across the dress, blistering and boiling her skin. It catches in her hair and sets her scalp alight. She finally screams, the shock worn and the pain incredible. She flails and extinguishes one sleeve, and the hem bursts again. The king’s arms burn with her, he instinctively lets go but immediately hugs her again, trying to smother the fire. His golf shirt melts before it burns, adhering to his skin. They collapse together, writhing on the floor, burning, screaming.

Jason stands there, frozen in shock, watching them burn. He doesn’t move until the bodies stop. Before he knows it, he collapses to his knees, feeling the heat from their corpses. Tears cloud his eyes but his mind is clear.

“For god’s sake, why? Why did she do this? Is she that mad that I’m marrying someone else?” he chokes “…was marrying. Fuck.” He stands and sprints down the hall and out the palace doors.

The boys arrive back before Jason does. They practically skip through the front door, talking their mother’s ear off about how well they behaved. She’s smiling, but she’s not listening. She’s focused instead on the breaking news coming over the radio. The king Creon and the princess Glauce are dead. One box checked. Then her mind shifts. Can I bear the weight of this pain? Surely exile is enough for them, I can leave and let Jason raise them. But then… he still has an inheritance, a lineage. I have to. I can’t leave without scrubbing his name from the world.

She pretends to be excited as she leads her boys to the back of the house, still hearing about their adventure.

A moment later, Jason pants, shoes skidding on the driveway. He sees her getting into her car. They make eye contact and Jason sees her eyes dim, like something is gone. She hurriedly slams the car door and pulls out.

“You loved them! Now mourn them!” She yells at him before her tires squeal away.

“Medea!” Jason shouts at the vanishing car, wondering if that’s why she killed the king and princess, his mind not imagining any other possibility.

His shoulders slump as he walks into the house to hug his children and tell them their mother isn’t coming back.

The neighbourhood echoes with his screams.