"New Reality"

untitled on train, originally uploaded by ©®.

Flickr Short Story © M. Sprouse

The empty fields whizzed by empty, sun beaten and hazed.

Carol depseratley needed to see something, anything, that would ground her. Ground her here in this "new reality". 

Her "new reality". That was Joe's term not her's, though she pretended to like the sound of it. The words flowed from his mouth like melted honey each time he spoke them making it much easier for her to flash a brief and forced smile across her face as he tried to convince her that she had made the right decision.

The blur of the window offered only atrophied barns, lonely rusted silos, and acres and acres of sun scorched crops. Her head began to spin from the sight of it. She thought for a moment that she may become physcially ill. It was all she could do to keep the lukewarm cola down.

"What the hell was keeping Joe so long?" she asked herself. "I can't do this without him right here next to me. Right now! Jesus, please come back soon."

She knew that within the hour her husband would wake, or at least be awakened, by Andrew and Sis. They were always so loud in the morning. So shrill. So demanding with the sun. Sometimes, it was almost unbearable.

He would find her note. He would find the note and he would know.

But that was her old reality.

"Oh God. What have I done?"