The Death of the Third

The Death of the Third:

By: C. Mighty

The sun is right above us, being washed over by a canopy of trees with the soothing sound of the waterfall in the background. Greg keeps walking away from me as if he doesn’t want anymore, it’s bothering me but I’ll get to the bottom of this. I finally get closer to him and I grab his arm, he turns to look at me and I say, “Have you told Noland about us yet?” 

“No. She’s your best friend, and I’m her boyfriend. Look, it was a one night stand just a one time thing, okay.” 

Why is he acting as if he didn’t feel our connection, besides how can he deny his obvious feelings for me, him visiting me all hours of the day. Damn he reminds me of my ex-boyfriend with his shit—minus the mental abuse; all I know is I’m more than just a little sex under the day light sun. Just imagine how Noland would feel if she knew that me and perfect boyfriend Greg screwed royally. How, I can’t wait till the cat jumps out of the bag. 

“Greg you have to tell her or I will. I know you want to be with me, it’s what you told me yesterday by the waterfall. You and Noland’s special place.” I say to him while wrapping my arms around his body and my breast at the right spot on his back. A small smile creeps up on my face as I see his face change, I knew eventually he'll stop this whole play of innocents. 

‘I can’t lie and say that this does not feel good. The warmth of her chest on my back—getting back to the point. Noland is the only girl that I care about always.’

He walks away from me, my right eyebrow raises, here we go again. He just can't seem to let her go, I get a grip of his hand again and this time I pull him into my chest. Wrapping my arms around like a snake wrapping itself around its prey and I lightly place my lips on top of his. He’s reluctant at first, but soon his lips moves against mine he places his hand on my back wanting more of me. My arms move to his neck pulling him closer to me, he then pushes away from me saying, “This was a huge mistake, this shouldn’t have happened. And I mean everything between us even this kiss.”

“Well, it did. So, stop acting like a little bitch and tell her that we belong together.” 

“How long has this been going on?” a sudden recognizable voice says from behind me.

Oh shit, I can’t turn around to face Noland just yet. She’s probably pissed at me right now for screwing around with her best friend.  

“We’ve been seeing each other behind your back.” My eyebrows furrow at Stephanie, I turn around, to face Noland, her left eyebrow is cocked up, if looks can kill she’s got me beat, by a long shot, but more than that she’s holding back her tears that I know will soon fall.

Noland squints her eyes at me , looking directly at me in the eyes , “So you’ve been fuckin’ around with my best friend behind my back?”

My right eyebrow raises, I try to walk towards her, but Noland walks away from me with a hurt expression on her face. I step back to give room between us, she steps forward to me and I keep stepping back away from her. 

 I then say to her, while walking closer to her, before she makes another step to me saying, “It’s not like that Noland. I-I love you.” 

“No! Screw you. Greg!” She pushes me away, “How can you say that to my face and you slept with my best friend?” she says. I stop to look at her while her eyebrows furrow at me. 

It hurts me to see Noland hurting this much. Nothing can unsettle me more than to see the girl I love in any pain that I have caused. I regret what I have done and realize that I have always loved her. It’s just a small moment of weakness I wish I never had that day.

Stephanie says to me, “You’re supposed to love me! You told me that yesterday when we…” she turns her head towards Noland and says, “had sex in the river by the waterfall. Wow Greg you've got yourself a rap sheet now, you even kissed me not too long ago, still wanna say you don’t love me?” Once she said that Noland’s face contorts. Her eyes fill with water and the tears roll down her face. I can feel a pang in my heart as the tears roll down her face. 

Noland then yells at me, “Our special place where we met! Are you kidding me Greg?” she steps back to where she came from and she turns around to walk further into the woods.  I stand there watching her retreating back. Until I make an attempt to follow her. But just as I begin to chase after her. Stephanie grabs my hand and she says, “When did you grow a conscious?”

I snatch my arm from her grasp and say, “When did you become such a bitch?” I walk away, screaming out Noland’s name in the woods. 

 I walk through the woods trying to escape the pain I feel right now. This is nothing like the pain I've felt when my ex-husband took my children away from me. I scoff, Greg and Stephanie together, how could this happen? 

A hand grabs my wrist and turns me around and says, “Noland! Please give me a chance to explain myself!” 

I look at him  in the eyes, as if I’m searching for some type of truth. Something to let me know that what I’ve heard is a lie. But then again, for her to do something like this for spite, it’s not exactly out of her league. Turning my gaze from his eyes to the ground, it’s hurtful, this feeling of betrayal—again is nothing I’ve ever experienced. My eyes tear up from the burning sensation I feel; as the tear slides slowly down my face I look up at him and say, while pulling my arm away from his grasp, “Why should I listen to you?”

He raises his hands in surrender, “Because, I’m your boyfriend and we need to talk this out.”

I step back and he moves forward, saying “No, everything has been said Greg.” He looks down in defeat, and I say, “But, what I will ask is this.” 

He gives me a pathetic, apologetic look, “How long has this been going on, between you two?” My voice was shaky just a little, as I asked the question the salt water begin to swell in my eyes. 

Greg looks like he’s about to burst, with his eyes looking down and eyebrows furrow. My fist clench and unclench as he just stands there trying to form a sentence. Loosing my patience, “How dare you cry? You have no right,” a tear slides down my face, “no right! You had the balls to throw it at her, now I want an answer! How long has this been going on?”

His eyes begin to swell up, he places his head in his hands for a moment. He lifts his head up immediately looking up at me, and says “It started last year.” 

My mouth gapes open at this. I squat down and my eyes are bulging out of my eye sockets. My heart is increasing, like the day I come home to an empty house. He continues to say, “You were gone so much I-I-I felt lonely. So one night she comes over to my place, and we were talking, drinking wine and I started to tell her how much I missed you.” He pauses, trying to hold back his tears, the droplet of water I was holding comes out as hot salty water, “She reaches over to me and gives me a hug, telling me that everything will be okay. To be honest that made me feel good, She, puts her hands on my shoulders and kisses my cheeks on both sides. I started to stare at her face as she kissed me on the cheeks,” he looks at the ground with this melancholic expression. “My arms found their way around her, and I pull her close to me,” The tears are just falling out of my eyes profusely, “so much so that I saw her pupils, our foreheads touching and then I move my head in closer and she reciprocates the action and our lips touch. It almost felt like a volcanic explosion between us.” My nose snuffles from all the tears and snot. “Well, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what happened after that.” 

Hurt in my eyes, I can feel this tight pang in my heart, the same feeling I felt when I saw the letter on the table that he left for me. Nothing I’ve never experienced before. He walks closer to me and I stand up and push him away, “You don’t touch me!”

His tears slides, down his face, “I told you not to let me tell you what hap…” 

I cut him off saying, “NO! Fuck you and…” Suddenly I’m cut off by Stephanie. How did she find us?

“No. It’s fuck you, Noland.” She walks over to stand in front of Greg. Saying, “No, one told you to be so damn nosy.”

I squint my eyes at her. 

She then says, “You know what, Noland I’m sick of you and your innocent acts. It’s actually quite irritating.” 

“You,” while I’m talking, Stephanie puts her hand behind her, “got some nerve. Talking about me, when you’re the worst…” she takes out a gun and raises it to me, taking off the safety. My hands go up with a frantic expression on my face, and Greg tries to get the gun out of her hands, and she says, “Greg stay out of this, the only way how you and I can be happy is if I kill her right now.”

He then says, screaming at her, “No. Are you crazy? This…” Suddenly she fires the gun. But… not at me, at Greg the smoke is rising from the gun and she blows the smoke away. She looks at her handy work and says, “Damn! I missed.” 

I walk over to her, seeing him there on the ground bleeding out from his arm, like my ex-husband. I look at him, we both smile and I said, “Wow, Steph you’re getting rusty. He was at point blank. But, that’s okay I’ll finish the job babe.”

“Babe?” My eyebrows furrow and my mouth gapes wide open.  

“No, I want to help you.” Stephanie says, in a whiny voice. What the fuck is going on? I’ve been ‘had’ by these two. One moment I’m apologizing and now I’ve been shot right in the arm. Gosh my arm hurts so much. My heart is racing through me, I just know that I have to get away. They start to pull into each other’s embrace and they kiss each other passionately in front of me. 

I begin to sweat, while holding my arm and trying to think through the pain in my shoulder, they stop kissing each other and I said, “So you guys are working together on this conspiracy?”

No response until, Noland and Stephanie stop sucking each other’s faces, her cold eyes look at me, and my eyes grew big in fear, my palms sweaty.  She walks away from Stephanie’s side while holding a gun to my head and says coldly while chuckling, “It's not a conspiracy, it’s the death of the third—meaning you were lured here to die.” Noland turns away from to talk to Stephanie, “We would have lost our catch. He reminds me of my ex-husband, but you’re a great thief. Stealing my children and happiness. Well not this time you son of bitch.”

My eyes shake in fear, my brain is telling me to get out of here. So, I close my eyes and suddenly I feel her hand around my shirt to pull me up. Noland says to me with the gun in front of me saying, “You should run, it’s all about the chase.” She waves the gun in my face and places is under my chin, “Let's see how long before you crash.” Her eyes cold as ice. A cold shiver I’ve never felt before runs down my spine. She puts her hand down, “I’m giving you a head start, you should take it Greg. You know, I actually liked you, don’t disappoint me again.” She throws me back on the ground.

A gulp escapes my throat, my breathing is coming out rapidly, and my legs shake under me. Something in me is saying move, but I haven’t made a single motion to get going, she then lefts up the gun to check  for the rounds and says, “Well, what are you waiting for? You have to get going. Give me what I crave.” 

Suddenly, something in me pushes me to run as fast as I can to run like hell, out of these woods. I take her word for it and I begin to make a run like hell to get out, just when I feel like I’m far enough, suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my leg. “Shit!” I said out loud. When did she follow me this far? I thought it was all about the chase. Falling to the ground on my face, biting my lower lip to stop me from shaking so much. I slowly start to crawl on the ground on all fours in agonizing pain, like my Mom says there’s no such thing as excuses. 

I can hear the leaves crunching behind me. Moving faster is my only salvation. Then I heard a familiar voice lurking over me saying,  “You know.” My eyes almost bulge out of my eye sockets, I stop to turn around to see Noland’s face; and she says, “Moving around like that isn’t going to stop the bleeding—it just makes it worst… hubby.” 

She walks closer to me, and I try to slide away and she stops me, by sticking her finger in my leg wound. I scream out loud crying out saying,  “You bitch! You fucking bitch! You’re never gonna get away with this.” I  say while I'm trying to turn my around and my voice is shaking in fear.

I walk back to stand by Stephanie, and there’s Greg screaming constantly in agonizing pain, “That’s very interesting! Boyfriend, you got off on my pain, when you know that you have feelings for me. Telling and showing me your feelings and yet you were just toying with me. Greg, you truly are a little shit like my ex-boyfriend.” Stephanie says and the noise stops. 

Stephanie continues to say, “Plus we haven’t been caught in five years. Good luck though. Should you survive, because your fellow brothers sure didn’t.”

 An eerie type of quiet lurks around us in the air. I stand next to Stephanie and I stretch out my arm being closer to him. She says breaking  the silence, “Can we do it together?” She says while looking at me. 

I nod my head, and she stand’s next to me as we both stretch out our hands on the trigger, and fires the bullet straight into his head. His eyes moves up where we fired the bullet and he falls backwards. We bend our arms at the same time blowing away the smoke that is emitting from the gun. Stephanie removes her hand and I throw the gun on the ground.

Stephanie then wraps her arms around my waist and I wrap my arms around her neck and our foreheads touch each other. Looking into each other’s eyes, I realize just how much I love her. She leans in and kisses me, passionately. 

Then we step away from our embrace with our backs turn away from Greg’s lifeless body and our arms are around each other’s waist. I ask her, “Hey Steph, you want some coffee?” I smile sweetly while lightly poking her in the side, “My treat.”

Stephanie smiles back, “Okay.”