What Came Next

Daphne sat on their porch, quietly watching the neighborhood.  She smiled as she realized that It would not be their porch much longer, comforted in knowing what was to come.  It was good to know things before they happened.  No reason to worry. No surprises. She never liked surprises. They made her uncomfortable.  Assurances were far more peaceful to live with than doubts. Knowing what loomed around the corner made for easy living.

Her palms suddenly started to sweat.  She rubbed her hands nervously on her legs, and began to rock back and forth as her heart raced.  What if they were wrong this time? She would be lost, completely on her own.  They told her what would happen so long ago, yet here she was, still waiting for fate to unfold. The panic intensified. She tried to put aside the idea of losing herself in a fateless world with no guarantees.  The thought was too much to bear.  How could she bring her child into that chaos?  She closed her eyes tightly and began taking deep breaths.

“Why is she doing this again? She knew this day would come”.

“We told her again and again. She should know by now, she is powerless to change it.  Everything that is going to happen is inevitable.”

Calm suddenly washed over her.  She laughed at herself.  These brief moments of fear came and went as quickly as an April storm.  The voices came like the sun, washing away the rain.  She gazed back into the neighborhood.  It was a beautiful day.  The children from next door played happily in the cul-de-sac.   That would be her child someday, though not here, not in this place. That much she had been told.

Daphne closed her eyes and allowed herself to again bask in the tranquility of certainty.  She reminded herself that there need be no struggle where one has no choice. There is little reason to worry when everything to come has been foretold. The voices had yet to lead her astray.  All would be as it should.

Her eyes opened again when she heard his car pull into the garage.  Today would be the day.  He had grown more and more distant.  She waited for the voices to confirm, but they did not come.  Her faith in them held strong.  They did not need to this time. 

When he told her, it was just as the voices had surmised. He was so sorry that this was happening.  He had tried so hard since the accident, but she refused to get help. She was scaring him with the things she said, the way she acted.  He had taken comfort in another, and he had to tell her the truth.  He knew the timing of this was unfortunate. She needed to see a professional before the child came. 

 Daphne knew he feared the future.  It is human to fear the unknown.  She still loved him, and wished he could share in her gift, the bliss of knowing what was to be.  He dismissed her whenever she spoke of things she was told.  At first, he scoffed at her. He soon seemed to fear her. There was nothing Daphne could do to help him.  This was his fate, one of not knowing, and he would never see what was to come next.  Sadness crept in for a moment, but she was comforted in knowing that neither of them had a choice.  No one did.

It was time to do what came next.  The voices had spoken of what would happen once his betrayal had surfaced.  There was no anger or jealousy in her heart.  How could there be? No choice in the matter had been given, only destiny to be fulfilled.

As she walked into the kitchen,  she looked through the window and again saw some of the neighborhood children.  Panic suddenly set in.  Did it have to be like this?  Maybe she could go back, tell him she would see a doctor like he asked.  Everything could be fixed, set right. Like going back in time.  They could raise their child here and live the life they dreamed of before the accident.

She laughed at herself again.  Those moments of doubt still crept in, but were usually escaped from quickly.  Her vision - their vision - of that life was just a silly dream.  It was before she had the voices to tell her what was to come.  She opened a drawer and pulled out a knife, the one he had bought for her.  The one the voices proclaimed she would use.

Footsteps above indicated he was in their bedroom.  She walked slowly up the stairs, knife in hand.  Her heart began to race again.  Is this right?  Will I regret this? What if he overpowers me?

“He’s leaving her, and she feels sorry for this scum?” 

“And with a child coming no less, to take care of all on her own!”  

“Not to mention the accident. He has this coming.”

“There is no changing our fates, and this is his. He brought this upon himself.”

Oh, what relief! Daphne always trusted the voices. Whatever they said always turned out to be just as so. She felt ashamed of her doubts, but now she was reassured, and moved up the stairs with conviction.

The bedroom door opened, and he turned to face it, just as she plunged the knife he gave her into his throat. He fell, clawing at the wound, choking on his own blood and gasping for air.  Daphne looked down at the knife in her hand and laughed at the irony. He gifted her the tool of his own demise.  We cannot escape fate, she thought. It was all set in motion so long ago.

Daphne sat down in the corner of the room, clutching the weapon in one hand, holding her stomach and her unborn baby in the other.  She looked on as his life slipped away, leaving a corpse on the floor of their home. She gazed at the blood which had dyed the carpet red. Just as the voices had told her.

She sat for some time, and waited for the voices to come.  This was a pivotal part of her destiny, and she longed for their guidance.  Where were they?  Surely they would be there for her now, in her time of most need. Wait, where did the voices come from? What if they were wrong? My god, she thought, I’ve murdered my husband, the father of my child! I’ll go to prison, my child will be lost, what have I done?

“You have done exactly what you were supposed to do.  Now get up. There is more for you to do today.  Your child is without a father, but will not be without a mother.”

Daphne laughed at herself, and set out to do what came next.