Ghost Writer

Bridget was clearing the table when his phone chimed.  She did her best not to react and busied herself brushing non-existent crumbs from the placemat.  Matthew didn’t notice.  He never noticed anymore. He sheepishly palmed his phone and made an exaggerated yawning motion, acting as if he wasn’t struggling with every second he couldn’t look at the phone.  She knew it was killing him not to jump from the table.  She savored that time, moving slowly, brushing every last invisible, non-existent crumb.

As Bridget walked back through the dining room door into the kitchen she heard his gasp.  She knew what he was doing.  She knew he was sexting with his new girlfriend.  There was a time when he would be desperately pleading with her for one more message, one more picture.  That time has passed.  Now she was stuck in a relentless orgy of endless chores while he keeps doing whatever he wants, shedding the detritus of his existence all over the house without a thought.

She could bury herself in jealousy for the attention he is giving to his new love but she has grown to loathe him and no longer cares.  This woman is more clever than his obsessions in the past.  This woman is playing hard to get and it’s driving him to distraction.  This tactic wouldn’t have worked when her husband was younger and more virile.  In his younger days he would just discard a woman if she became too needy.  Now, though, things are different and any beautiful woman showing interest in a bulbous, aging, balding man has more power. 

When she returned to the dining room he was gone.  Most likely frantically texting back to his cyber lover who is demanding more and more of him in exchange for lude pictures and sexy stories.  Sexting is no longer enough for her, she wants him to leave his wife.  She wants him all to herself.  The texting between the two lonely hearts is becoming more and more frequent.  More desperate.  Bridget can tell that his obsession with this woman was taking its toll.

He has gotten sloppy. She sees the credit card statements of elicit purchases.  She sees the jewelry he is buying.  She sees the sexy lingerie he buys that never comes through their front door.  She shakes her head at his stupidity.  She wonders where he thinks he can hide the money he has taken from their joint account.  She can only assume he plans to leave her soon and is trying to hide assets.  He is a fool if he thinks she won’t have a paper trail for her lawyer to follow.

He does not notice her anymore, but she is worthy and vibrant and brilliant. In time she has come to realize this.  She also has come to realize that she deserves to keep the house that she has worked so hard to manage. She deserves a decent alimony for all the years she took care of him instead of taking care of herself and her career.  She deserves so much more than he has given her and she has figured out a way to take it.

She leaned on the kitchen counter, whipped out her burner phone, and began to respond to her secret cyber lover: “Matthew, I just can’t take this anymore, I love you so much, I want us to be together.  I want to feel your body against mine.  I can’t do that until I know you are committed to me.  You need to serve your wife with divorce papers and give her whatever she wants.  I promise you that I will be worth it.  I can only give myself to you if I know you are committed to me.  I want to give myself to you fully.  Please, I want you so bad.”  She pressed send.  She added a sexy photo of his cyber lover Camilla to give him some motivation.  She smiled to herself.  Soon enough the house would be hers, she could have the bed to herself, she could start her new life.  She could break free.

Matthew’s phone chimed and he felt his heart leap.  He knew it would be Camilla and he prayed it was a sexy text.  His fingers were itching to grab the phone but his horrible wife had just walked into the dining room and was taking an annoyingly long time to clear the table. He grabbed the phone and stretched like he was yawning just trying to get a glimpse but it was useless, the screen had gone black.  He was about to make an excuse when his wife finally left the room.

He quickly brought his phone to his face.  His hands were sweating so bad he couldn’t get it to open.  He typed in his passcode: 2263 for cami.  His screen came alive with an image of his beautiful girlfriend laid out in lingerie.  He gasped at the sight of her.  He needed to leave the room before his wife came back.  He quickly got up and went to hide in the bathroom so he could message her back.

“Camilla, you are so beautiful.  I need to see you, I need to be with you, you are everything to me.”  He touched her picture on the screen zooming in on his favorite parts.  He watched the dots that indicated she was responding and waited for her reply.   “Matthew, I just can’t take this anymore, I love you so much, I want us to be together.  I want to feel your body against mine.  I can’t do that until I know you are committed to me.  You need to serve your wife with divorce papers and give her whatever she wants.  I promise you that I will be worth it.  I can only give myself to you if I know you are committed to me.  I want to give myself to you fully.  Please, I want you so bad.” 

He knew he couldn’t go on like this.  His heart ached for this woman and he had to have her.  In that moment he made up his mind. He knew the number and he dialed it while hiding in the bathroom sitting on the edge of the toilet seat.  He left a voice message:  “Hey, Ron, it’s me, Matthew, I’ve decided to give her what she wants.  I can’t live without Camilla in my life anymore.  I will bring you a retainer tomorrow and finalize payment when it’s all over.”  He hated to lose so much of his hard earned money, but had to do this, it was the only way he could break free.

It had been a week since Matthew had promised Camilla he was going to divorce his wife.  Bridget was relentless in sending him racey photos and promises to get things moving.  It was almost like finding a lost part of herself she had forgotten.  She even started feeling a little sexier.  She bought some new clothes and make-up and even got a new gym membership.  She was just leaving the gym when a text from Matthew came through to Camilla’s phone, “We will be together soon, my love, I can’t wait!”  She smiled and typed back, “I can’t wait to finally be with you, my love!”

Finally, it was going to be over.  She spontaneously decided to stop at her PO box to pick up all of Camilla’s gifts. With this new life she was going to be enjoying these sexy trinkets while her ex-husband moped in his low budget apartment while eating frozen fish sticks and she was loving it.  When she got home he was nowhere in sight so she skipped up the stairs with Camilla’s packages to give herself a little fashion show.  That’s when he came out from nowhere. A man in a knit cap like some low-budget horror film.  He pushed her and the packages went flying.  She landed abruptly at the bottom of the stairs and was silent.

That’s where Matthew found her in the evening when he came home.  He called 911 immediately.  He stared at her crumpled body and was revolted by his own relief.  She was gone.  He had broken free and could now enjoy his life with Camilla, the only woman he truly loved.  He couldn’t help himself, he had to text her.  He had to tell her that he loved her, that they would be together soon.  He pressed send.  

The phone chimed loudly in the quiet foyer where his wife lay dead on the floor.