Julia stood alone in the entryway, smoking a cigarette and holding a bottle of beer that was halfway full. Jim let out a sigh of relief.
Taking a deep breath, Jim said to Julia: "You're home pretty late."
Julia stared at Jim for a moment and did not say anything. She then took a drink from the beer bottle and looked at the ground.
"Is everything alright, Honey?"
Julia stared at Jim for another moment. Right then, Jim noticed that her face was quite red and covered in tears. He hadn't noticed at first due to how relieved he had been about Chris not being with her. Julia had clearly been crying about something for quite a while.
"Julia, what's the matter?" Jim asked.
Julia continued to stare at Jim some more. She then threw the cigarette she was holding to the ground and stomped on it quite hard. She seemed to be venting out anger on it. She stared at the ground again for a few more seconds and then looked back at Jim.
"Did...did you ever find Chris?"
At that moment, Julia let out a very loud scream and threw the beer bottle to the wall, smashing it to pieces. Jim jumped back in shock.
"Julia!" Jim shouted as his eyes widened.
Julia then began to cry loudly. At that moment, Jim became shocked and worried at the same time. Had something bad happened to Chris?
"Julia!" Jim shouted. "Julia, what's wrong?! What happened?!"
"YOU PIECE OF CRAP!!" Julia screamed as tears continued to run down her face. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOOOOUU!!"
With that, Julia walked over to Jim and shoved him hard. Jim was completely dumbstruck.
Julia continued to bawl for over a minute. Jim stared at her in complete shock and confusion. He didn't even know how to respond to her at this point.
"Ju...Julia..."
"Don't talk to me!" Julia shouted, turning away from Jim. "Don't even look at me! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!"
"Julia...please tell me what happened..."
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Julia turned back around and gave Jim a death stare. "I'll tell you what freaking happened!! He wants nothing to do with me! And it's all your fault!!"
"Who are you talking about?!"
"CHRIS!! Who the hell else?! He told me he doesn't want to see me anymore! He doesn't love me anymore!"
Jim, once again, felt like he had been vindicated.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked, sternly. "What do you mean 'he doesn't love you anymore?'"
For a brief moment, Julia glared at Jim with so much rage that he began to cringe immensely once again. Tears continued to run down her face.
"You never figured it out?" Julia asked, still glaring at Jim. "You never figured out that Chris and I were secretly in love for a really long time? You didn't have enough brains to figure that one out? What's the matter? Losing your touch?"
Jim took a very deep breath.
Stay calm, he thought, Stay calm.
"Julia," Jim said. "I've known that something's been going on between the two of you for a very long time. I could tell that you had some strange fascination for Chris the day he arrived three years earlier. You just refused to admit it. Hell, you screamed at me anytime I accused you of secretly being in love with him. If you're trying to surprise me, it's really not working. You've never been good at hiding your feelings."
Julia wiped the side of her face and sniffled. "Well, if you knew that Chris and I were in love, then why the hell did you even stick around? Why didn't you just leave and let me and Chris be happy together? We didn't need you! All you ever did was get in the way of our relationship!"
Even though Jim had assumed that Julia had begun to develop feelings for Chris long ago, he couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in his chest at that moment. All the memories of the great times he had had with Julia began to flash before his eyes. The day they first met, their friendship all throughout high school and college, the day he proposed to her, their wedding, the excitement and happiness they shared together when they first discovered that she was pregnant with Cassie, the day Cassie was born...
It all meant nothing to her now.
Julia stared at the ground for a moment. She then began to cry once again.
"Chris and I were supposed to get married. We talked about it one time. He said we could go to the Bahamas for our honeymoon. Or maybe The Canary Islands..."
Jim and Julia had gone to Mount Rushmore for their honeymoon. Before they were in a relationship, Julia would often talk about how much she wished that she could visit Mount Rushmore one day. Jim remembered how excited she had been when they first bought the plane tickets. She had had so much fun during the trip. But now it was obvious that Mount Rushmore meant nothing to her either.
After sobbing for another minute, Julia began speaking again.
"I was practically dreaming for the day that he finally prosed to me. He said that his parents were going to lend him a whole bunch of money so that he could buy a ring. We were so close to starting our new life together..."
Was that where the "butt load of money" that Chris had mentioned earlier supposed to go to originally? At this point, Jim didn't even care. The sinking feeling in his chest was so painful that he found it hard to think about anything other than how upset he was at the moment.
"But it's all over now. He wants nothing to do with me. He won't even let me live with him in his new apartment. And...it's all...YOUR FAULT!!"
At that moment, Julia furiously knocked over a small lamp that was sitting on the entryway table. The lamp, which had been a wedding gift from Jim's aunt, broke into pieces upon hitting the floor. Jim would normally have been quite upset about this, but the feeling in his chest prevented him from doing so.
"You told me that Chris had decided to go to rehab himself," Julia continued, sniffling. "What a blatant freaking lie. Chris told me everything. He told me that you forced him to go to rehab because you were 'tired' of him. And he made it seem like a good thing. He said that you 'saved' him by forcing him to go. 'Saved' him, what a freaking joke. He was perfectly happy before you pulled that little stunt. He even told you himself! Don't you remember?"
"I didn't force him to go to rehab!" Jim shouted, bitterly. "I just told him to leave the house because I was tired of him wrecking the place! He chose to go to rehab himself! You must have heard him wrong!"
"LIAR!" Julia grabbed a bottle of air freshener off of the entryway table and flung it at Jim. Jim barely dodged the bottle and backed up quite a bit to avoid any more flying objects.
"I'm not lying!" Jim shouted. "Julia, please just listen to me!"
"Listen to you?! WHY the hell would I EVER listen to you! All you ever care about and have ever cared about is yourself and how YOU feel! That's why you made Chris go to rehab! Just because he made YOU feel uncomfortable! You were never able to accept him for who he was! Just like HE told you! Chris may not be perfect, but at least he's willing to accept others for who they are! Why the hell did I even marry you in the first place?! Why did I decide to go to college with you?! Why didn't I just stay in high school for one more year?! I wouldn't have gotten to graduate early, but at least I would've stayed with Chris! God, was I thinking?! Was I really that impatient?!"
"Julia, I think you've been drinking a little too much..."
"OH SHUT UP!! You don't even know what the hell you're talking about! You never know what the hell you're talking about! God, why the hell do I even keep listening to you?!"
"Julia..."
"I SAID SHUT UP!! What, are you going to force me to go to rehab too?! Are you going to try to brainwash me into being another insensitive idiot like you?! Just like you did to Chris?!"
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, because of your stupid stunt, Chris is now just as much of a selfish scumbag as you! He said he doesn't want to be around me anymore because 'Wah wah wah, I don't like drinking and smoking!' Sound familiar?!"
Jim didn't even bother responding. There was absolutely no point.
"I thought the point of rehab was to get people to stop drinking and all that stuff! Not turn them into heartless jerks! If I had known, I would've talked him out of it the day he went! I just can't freaking believe it!"
Julia started to cry once again.
"And...that's not even the worst part. I asked Chris if he still loved me and...he...he...he said...no. HE SAID NO!!"
Julia bawled for another minute. Jim put his hands up in case he needed to block himself from any of Julia's projectiles.
"He said no," Julia said, still sobbing. "Because...because I'm still married. Because I'm still married...TO YOU!!"
Julia walked up to Jim and shoved him so hard that he nearly crashed into the front door. As Julia sobbed for another moment, several thoughts began running through Jim's mind. At this point, it was pretty clear that Julia didn't love him and didn't want to be married to him anymore. As Jim suddenly thought about Cassie and Meagan, he began shaking in fear. Jim's absolute worst nightmare was about to come true. Was there anything he could say to get out of this?
"Ju...Julia...Julia...please..."
"I still can't believe he would do that to me! Have these past few years meant nothing to him or what? 'I don't want to ruin your marriage.' WHAT FREAKING MARRIAGE!?!? ME AND HIM were supposed to get married!! We even planned it out! WHAT DOES IT MATTER THAT I'M STILL FREAKING MARRIED TO SOMEONE THAT I DON'T EVEN LIKE OR CARE ABOUT ANYMORE?!?! JUST...UGH!!"
"Julia...please...Julia..."
"But whatever. If that's the way he's going to be now, then whatever. I don't need Chris. And guess what, Jim? I don't need you, either! I DON'T NEED EITHER OF YOU!!"
With that, Julia yanked off her wedding ring and flung it across the room. A cold feeling swept through Jim's body.
Please don't let this really be happening, Jim thought, shaking much harder than before. Please, Please, don't let this be happening.
Julia shot Jim one last look of hatred and then stormed out of the entryway and through the living room. Jim followed after her, still shaking quite hard.
"Julia!" Jim called. "Julia, please! We can talk this out!"
As Julia began marching down the hallway toward the girls' bedrooms, the cold feeling in Jim's body became much worse. At this point, Jim was absolutely desperate to get Julia to stop.
"JULIA!!" He screamed, walking much faster. "NO!! PLEASE!! JUST LISTEN TO ME!! PLEASE!!"
Julia marched into Cassie's bedroom. Cassie was sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes. It appeared that all of the commotion had just now woken her up.
"Mommy?" Cassie asked as Julia came into her room.
Julia yanked Cassie off of her bed. As she turned to leave the room, Jim attempted to grab Cassie, but Julia shoved him away so hard that he fell down and crashed into Cassie's bookcase. Cassie became so startled and scared by what was going on that she began to cry loudly.
No, Jim thought as he pulled himself off the floor. Please. Not this.
Julia marched out of Cassie's room. Jim was aching so much that he found it difficult to keep up with her.
"JULIA!" Jim shouted. "STOP!"
Julia stormed into Meagan's room and pulled Meagan out of her crib. Jim again tried to grab the girls out of Julia's arms, but she then kicked him in the shins with so much force that he stumbled over and collapsed right inside of Meagan's toy box. Meagan, like Cassie, began to cry loudly as Julia left the room.
Jim tried to pull himself out of the toy box, but doing so turned out to be extremely difficult. Jim was now in so much pain that he could hardly move. As he began to lift his arms up as slowly as possible, thoughts of Julia leaving the house with Cassie and Meagan started to flood his head.
I have to get my girls, He thought. I have to get my girls.
Jim pulled himself out of the toy box as fast as he possibly could. His body screamed in pain as he did so, but he tried his hardest to ignore it. He then lumbered out of the room and down the hallway. He suddenly could hear both Cassie and Meagan crying and screaming for him from a distance. It sounded like Julia was only just about to enter the foyer. He could still make it.
Daddy's coming, girls, Jim thought as he began to stumble down the hallway even faster. Daddy's coming.
As Jim entered the living room, he could see Julia in the foyer opening the front door. Seeing Julia with the girls caused him to pick up his speed. The pain in his body rose to an even greater level but he continued trying to ignore it.
"Julia!" Jim shouted. "Stop!"
Julia opened the door and stormed out. Cassie and Meagan both continued to sob and scream for him.
"GIRLS!!" Jim screamed. "NO!!"
Jim was now running at his fastest speed. By this point, he couldn't even feel any of the pain. He was beyond determined to get his girls back. He just couldn't lose them. He just couldn't.
Jim sped through the living room, trying his hardest to process a way to get the girls away from Julia once he caught up to her. But as soon as he ran into the foyer, Jim slipped on the bottle of air freshener that Julia had thrown at him earlier. He then tumbled onto the ground face forward, landing directly on all of the broken glass from the beer bottle and the pieces of the broken lamp.
Jim's entire body was now filled with so much agonizing pain that he felt like he was going to die. He could no longer feel his legs and could barely move his arms. His face, hands, and arms stung wildly from all the glass and lamp bits. Jim lay still on the ground, half-expecting everything to go dark within seconds.
No, Jim suddenly thought. I can't lose my girls. I just can't. I have to keep fighting.
Using his left arm, Jim slowly pulled himself up. The agonizing pain that he felt as he did so was so extreme that it made him gasp, but he refused to give up. Jim eventually pulled himself up to his full height. One of his legs was clearly broken, as he could not stand on it without falling over. Jim hopped over to the front door and opened it. He then hopped out onto the front porch and looked over to the driveway.
Julia had started up her car and was already driving out of the driveway. He could see the girls buckled up in the backseat, still crying.
"NO!!" Jim screamed louder than he ever had before.
At that moment, Jim began hopping as fast as he could. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do at this point, but he just couldn't stand there and watch as Julia took off with girls. The chances of stopping her now were very slim, but there at least was a chance. Maybe the car would get a flat tire before it was on the road. Maybe the engine would give out. At this point, Jim was so desperate to get the girls back that a very small chance was good enough for him.
But as soon as Jim began hopping down the front porch steps, he tripped and tumbled down them, landing flat on the sidewalk. For a moment, Jim completely blacked out.
After coming to his senses, Jim slowly picked up his head and looked over to the driveway.
Julia's car was gone.
"No," Jim said. "No."
The pain in Jim's body was much worse than he had ever felt in his life, but he hardly even cared. His heart hurt so much worse. Cassie and Meagan were gone. His worst nightmare was about to come true.
Jim lay his head back down on the sidewalk, which was now covered in blood. He then closed his eyes.
ns 172.70.126.194da2