I thought I knew you

It was a cool autumnal evening, as the colours of red and orange ripped there way through the streets of New York city. The sound of a car trunk slamming shut warns of the birds, as Bryan Smith stands behind the car in deep annoyance. ‘’Why are we doing this?’’ he mutters to himself. ‘’Because’’ his wife Angie says before dropping one of the moving boxes down the steps. ‘’Damn it…..because I think its time we should leave this deep dark pit of a city.’’ She picks up the box and puts them in the back of the car. Bryan still standing behind the car quickly speaks up ‘’but there’s nothing wrong with this place, I have an amazing job, you’ve got this beautiful house to clean every day, whats so terrible about that?’’ Angie rolls her eyes ‘’let’s just go, we’ve been here too long, it’ll be midnight by the time we get there’’ she said as she got in the car. Bryan took his last look at the 3-story house they once lived, sighed and finally got into the driver’s seat.

They drove through the dark lanes, Angie asleep and Bryan at the wheel, hoping to see some sign of civilisation. Finally, he spotted something in the distance, it wasn’t a light from a house or a car, it was a reflection. The moons reflection, shining upon a lake. ‘’Angie wake up, I believe that we’re close’’ he said with great sarcastic anticipation. Angie rubbed her eyes and yawned ‘’oh wow’’ she said, as they turned a corner and came upon an old log cabin which camouflaged itself into the night sky. ‘’Now that is what you call a house’’ Angie said jumping out as soon as the car came to a stop. Bryan remained inside with no hope of showing any excitement ‘’great’’ he said before getting out of the car. ‘’Would you look at this place Bryan, it’s absolutely beautiful and look at that lake, maybe I could take up painting, be like Bob Ross.’’ Angie said as if she has just received the best present ever. Bryan decides not to answer while bringing the bags, then suddenly falls to the ground. ‘’aah for gods sake, now my suits all soiled. That rock is definitely the first thing to go.’’ He said angrily. ‘’Now just calm down’’ Angie said, trying to hold in a snigger. She helps him off the ground and wipes down his suit ‘’why did you wear a suit here anyway’?’’ she asks with hints of confusion. ‘’I have to look smart in a place like this, but now the lovely feces of the forest have completely ruined that’’ Bryans temper raged as he climbed the steps inside the cabin. Angie stood as if the excitement had been drained out of her, staring into the doorway. She finally broke her gaze and picked up the bags that Bryan had left and went inside ‘’lets hope there is a decent bed’’ she said to herself before shutting the door.

The bright orange disc made its way above the lake bringing life to the surrounding woodland. The sound of animals came from every direction, but for Angie it was the sound of Bryans yelling that woke her from her deep sleep ‘’Angie! Come here!’’ he shouted. Angie jumped quickly from the bed and ran into the kitchen ‘’What is it? Whats wrong?’’ she asked with no hesitation. All she could see was Bryan standing, with his new suit on holding a bottle of aftershave, the smell overpowering the entire cabin. He was pointing at something behind the couch. Angie moved to his point of view and discovered he had spotted a baby deer lying on the floor. ‘’Aw Bryan’’ Angie said quietly as she slowly walks towards the deer. ‘’Get it out it’s stinking up the place’’ Bryan shouts and makes the deer jump up ‘’shhhhhh don’t shout, whats the matter with you?’’ Angie replies annoyed. The baby deer proceeds towards the door, with Angie behind it ‘’Go on little one, go find your mama’’ she said. The deer makes its way out and Angie watches it bounce away into the autumn woods ‘’good riddance, bloody thing could have brought any disease in here'’ Bryan said behind her. Angie turned to him in disgust as he carried on talking ‘’I’m going to town, I cant stay in here more than three hours a day, ill get rabies or something, you want me to get you anything babe?’’ he asked with a surprisingly loving voice. Angie thought and replied ‘’no thanks’’ and received a kiss holding a strong smell of aftershave.

It had been 6 hours since Bryan left for town, Angie outside creating a small sign with the household name on it. A medium sized plank of wood with the surname SMITH painted on it ‘’ah that will do nicely’’ she said with a proud smile. She stood and looked up to the top of the trees listening to the sound of nothing but the birds, that was then suddenly overcome by the loud screech of tires. ‘’What on earth?’’ Angie said to herself when all she saw was dust flying into the air from behind Bryans car, which came to an abrupt halt. A furious Bryan got out of the car, his face red as a beet ‘’what’s wrong babe?’’ Angie asked holding her new sign. Bryan stopped in disgust ‘’what the hell is that?’’ he asked pointing at the signs ‘’it’s our new sign, seeing as we don’t have a mailbox with our name on it, I thought it would be nice to have our name somewhere else you know’’ Angie answered with a weak smile. ‘’pfft who the hell is going to find us out here, certainly not those hillbillies in town’’ he made his way up the front steps ‘’They are not hillbillies Bryan they are countryfolk who live on and with the land’’ Angie picked up her voice and defended the towns people. Bryan didn’t think about replying and just went inside the cabin, where he would sit on the chair and fall asleep. Angie went to the car to find a bunch of sunflowers on the front seat ‘’Excuse me’’ out came a voice from nowhere , making Angie jump and drop the flowers ‘’oh I’m sorry about that young lady’’ said an old farmer of small stature, walking up the short driveway. He had an old bloodhound with him so you wouldn’t want to mess with him. ‘’Oh that’s alright’’ Angie said ‘’It’s nice to see another face besides my husbands, what can I do for you and your lovely dog?’’ The farmer came closer and picked up the sunflowers, putting them back into a bunch for Angie. ‘’You can have these for free but your husband owes me twelve dollars for that bottle of whiskey’’ he said handing the flowers over. Angie confused looked towards the house then back at the farmer ‘’oh god ,here, I have some cash take it’’ she said handing the money over to the man. He looks at her with wary eyes but they soften as he takes the money and holds Angie’s hand ‘’ you are always welcome in our town, thank you’’. He pats Angie’s hand, then turns to walk away back down the road, his dog hot on his trail with a slight limp ‘’My names Angie and your always welcome here to sir’’ she said. The old man stopped and turned ‘’Gerald sanders’’ he said tipping his hat to her ‘’I’ll remember that, thank you mam’’ he continued walking until disappearing behind the trees.

Angie slammed the front door shut waking the dozy Bryan from his slumber ‘’what the hell!’’ he shouted, standing up to find Angie staring with her arms crossed. ‘’What the hell are you doing slamming doors like that you know this piece of filth building isn’t going to take another hit’’ he said. But he wasn’t getting any reaction out of Angie, she just kept on staring ‘’I don’t like to shout Bryan you know that, but you have got on my last nerve. Complaint after complaint about this amazing new cabin and now stealing liquor off that lovely old man, what is going on?’’ she asks him. Bryan takes the half empty whiskey bottle out of his blazer pocket and takes a sip ‘’You want to know what’s wrong?’’ he says wiping the alcohol that had spilled down his face. He comes closer and closer to Angie’s face looking slightly tipsy from the booze ‘’THIS…PLACE’’ he says slowly with not a blink in his eye. ‘’Everything here from that chair to that stupid rock out front, everything about this place is just awful, those people out there wouldn’t even know what a bank cheque was if I asked them’’ he laughed. Angie finally had a place to say what was circling her mind ‘’so what are you going to do, try and change everything to your standards, because honestly that would just rip the joy right out of me’’ tears were forming in her eyes but they didn’t fall. ‘’That joy was found in the city, you can find it again’’ Bryan said in a much calmer tone. ‘’I’m not going back there, to be a housewife for the rest of my life. Listening to the constant roar of vehicles passing and being suffocated by the overcrowded cement walkways, NO I’m not doing it.’’ She sat on the small sofa in the middle of the room waiting for a response from Bryan. He stood quietly for at least 10 seconds before coming up with something to say ‘’so what are we going to do? You’d really rather stay here with the redneck clan, instead of listening to the wishes of the man you love?’’ He didn’t get an answer, Angie just stared down at the floorboards, still keeping the tears in. He knew his answer then, so he placed his whiskey bottle on a small table ‘’I thought we were together on everything? I thought we knew each other and what we both wanted’’ he said as he looked at his wife ‘’I guess not’’. Bryan grabbed his keys, looked back on his wife still sat on the sofa and finally made his way out the cabin with a slam of the door. Angie now alone finally shed a tear which trickled down her face to her mouth that turned into a small grin revealing her final thought I’m free.