The Photograph

“Honey! Something is seriously wrong with me! I think I’m losing my mind!” shrieked Daniel over the phone to his wife. His heart was pounding so fast that he felt as though it would just fall of his chest. He was shivering and sweating profusely. His hand was trembling while holding his mobile phone.

“Calm down Danny. What’s wrong?” Jessica asked.

“I don’t know Jessy. Something is wrong with my eyes. Or something could be wrong with my brain” Daniel’s panic was apparent in his voice.

“Baby, please pull yourself together and tell me what is going on!” Jessica begged.

“I don’t know if it was something I ate last night. I think I am hallucinating”

“Danny, you are making me worried! Are you alright?” Jessica was starting to panic.

* * *

Daniel and Jessica are happily married for five years now and they have a beautiful three-year-old daughter, Stephanie. The memory of their first meeting is still fresh in Daniel’s mind. What was supposed to be a regular night’s out with friends turned out to be the most important moment in Daniel’s life. It was like a breath of fresh air when Daniel laid his eyes on Jessica in that house party. She was cruising around the party with her red dress and her free-falling brown hair flowing like a river. The breeze that accompanied her stride, the shadow that struggled to keep up with her vibrancy is still the topic of discussion that Daniel never fails to bring up during their annual anniversary celebration.

Their relationship was a classical fairy-tale that usually earned the jealousy of their close circle. Daniel has never left Jessica’s side throughout their marriage. Jessica’s morning wake-up kiss, her unparalleled morning tea were all part of Daniel’s must-have morning routines and it has been for the past five years of their beautiful marriage.

This is the first time Daniel has been separated from his wife for more than a week. As a newly promoted marketing executive, it became a part of Daniel’s job to entertain customers from all parts of the world. His first assignment is in Hungary and he had to leave his wife for the first time in five years. The goodbye was long and hard and Daniel had no heart to leave his wife and daughter. The thought of quitting his job and even volunteering to get demoted to avoid travelling a lot crossed his mind. Somehow, he convinced himself that it was just for two weeks and after that he will be reunited with his wife again.

Danial took a photograph with his wife on his polaroid camera right before leaving and kept it in his wallet to bring it with him to Hungary. That photograph was his only company throughout his journey to Hungary.

The first few days in Hungary were hard to get used to but daily video calls and the exchange of heart-warming messages kept the day going for Daniel. Every night ended with Daniel closing his eyes while looking at the photograph he took with Jessica right before leaving.

It was almost a week since their separation when things started to go wrong. The night before, Daniel had a meeting with his client in a bar and he went unusually heavy on his drinks to impress his client. They shared such a good rapport and the deal concluded smoothly. But the quantity of drinks that Daniel had was way beyond his threshold. It was a surprise to him that he went back to his hotel room in one piece that night. That night he didn’t manage to look at his photograph before sleeping as his eyelids were too heavy.

The next morning started with a bit of a hangover. He tried to brush off the headache and looked for his photograph. There was some other lady posing with him instead of his wife in the photograph! He brushed his eyes harder and looked at the photograph again without squinting. He could not believe his eyes!

It wasn’t Jessica in the picture! Its definitely the same photograph; he could even see his daughter running towards them in the background as she tried to squeeze in with them for the photograph. But the lady in the picture beside him definitely wasn’t Jessica.

He immediately picked up his phone and dialled Jessica.

* * *

“Honey, please tell me what is going on! I am freaking out here.” Jessica yelled.

“The photograph that we took has changed. You are not there anymore!” Daniel revealed.

“What are you blabbering Danny?”

“I swear it was alright until yesterday. But today something is wrong. Some other lady is there instead of you! I know I must be sounding like a mad man now!”

“Baby, what did you have last night? You said you might have had something?”

“I just had a couple of drinks with a client. I may have gone overboard with the drinks but I thought I could sleep it off. I never thought I could go mad!”

“Danny, I am worried. Can you please just come back? Like right now!” Jessica’s worry came out like an order.

That sounded like the exact thing Daniel should be doing right now. He put down the phone and booked the next available flight back home. Throughout his journey back, Daniel kept staring at the photograph hoping that he could gain his sanity back. But he realized the strange women looked even older as time pass by.

It was almost sunrise when Daniel arrived home. He rushed in through the front door to fall in the arms of his wife who he assumed would be waiting for his arrival and hoping to wake up from this nightmare. Unfortunately, Jessica was in the bathroom taking a shower.

“Honey, I am home!” Daniel announced.

“Baby! You are back! Give me a minute, I will be out. I have made your favourite morning tea. It’s on the table. Have a sip and I will join you in a jiffy” said Jessica from the bathroom.

Daniel’s favourite tea was waiting for him on the table. He felt like he was home when he took the first sip. He missed it so much. He missed her so much.

Daniel’s heart skipped a beat when he saw Jessica walking towards him to welcome him; the same way he felt five years ago when he first saw her. His love for her has not fade one bit. There she was, looking exactly the same way as she always did; as vibrant as usual. He rushed and hugged her tightly.

“Baby, I was worried about you. Is everything alright?” Jessica whispered in Daniel’s ears.

“Look at this honey” Daniel immediately took out his wallet and showed Jessica the photograph.

“I don’t see anything wrong baby” Jessica looked puzzled.

Daniel was shocked to realize that Jessica was posing beside him, exactly how it was when the photograph was taken. The strange lady was gone.

“I swear honey! An old lady was there in your place! I swear!” Daniel could not believe his eyes. He has definitely gone crazy.

“Its ok baby. Maybe you were just too tired and missed me so much” Jessica gave Daniel a comforting hug.

Daniel was extremely mystified while Jessica looked at their reflection in the mirror nearby and let out a sinister smile. She has been doing it successfully for the past five years. A two-week business trip is not going to meddle with her master plan.

“Do you want to finish your tea before going to bed baby? You must be tired” Jessica handed Daniel her ‘special’ tea.