Eliza
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Eliza
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There were five other people at the table that night. None of them mattered. Only Eliza mattered. She and her husband sat on opposite ends of the long table, as was the norm during get-togethers with other families. During these get-togethers the other families would turn their bodies towards Eliza, and although this was a mostly unconscious action, it still bothered Eliza’s husband Arthur. On this night the families that were summoned were the Olegs and the Robinsons. Both families were friendly, with a distinct upper middle class ignorance. For example Mrs. Oleg, Kathy, simply couldn’t believe that there were homeless people in America.

Many unimportant things were talked about during this gathering. The men talked of the specs of their lawns, and other perceived manly things. Conversely, the women talked of clothes, cooking, and things of that nature. Interestingly, whatever subject was talked about, it always seemed to come back to Eliza. The entire room was entranced by her. Especially the men. Mr. Robinson, James, once said that she was like a modern day Marilyn Monroe. Eliza herself occasionally recognized the resemblance; the blonde curls, the addictive smile, the sleepy eyes. It was all there. James mentioned it again to her on this night, in a kind of offhand way.

“This roast beef is amazing Marilyn”. Eliza already knew of James’s attraction to her, and she took advantage of it. If she needed someone to run a few errands, or watch the kids, he would wholeheartedly offer himself up. Eliza usually responded positively to his offhand flirting, and was confronted by his wife Lucy about it. It wasn’t actually a confrontation; more like a small comment. They ran into each other in at the store and started talking about nothing. Towards the end of their conversation Lucy slipped something in about her and James. “James kept asking me about where you were the other day. He said you had something to give him”

That something was the leftover cake that she said she would give him. A promise that she didn’t follow through with. What would normally be a harmless comment took a somewhat accusatory tone. Eliza’s grinned slightly and motioned towards Lucy. “Yeah, a little something I made” she said. “Don’t worry, he got what he wanted”.

Generally speaking, people’s minds go to the worst places when faced with uncertainty, and the innuendo that was thrown at Lucy sent her tumbling into a silent despair. But Lucy didn’t want to accuse Eliza of something that she had no proof of. And so she ran the incident through her mind long after it happened, driving herself further into despair.

The reason Lucy was in so much anguish was because she was at a dead end. She and James had signed a premarital agreement that would leave James with all of his wealth in the event of a divorce. If she accused James of infidelity or even investigated such a claim, she worried that he would divorce her. Now being accused of infidelity one time doesn’t really warrant a divorce; but James was a highly sensitive creature. A flaw that made him susceptible to Eliza.

If she didn’t accuse him of infidelity, or at least get some kind of closure, she would end up tormenting herself with uncertainty. She came to the conclusion that it was better to live unhappy than to live poor. And so she sat at the table and smiled while James subtly tried to court Eliza. Usually Arthur never be visibly distraught by James’s flirting, but this time he was. Arthur was never a talkative person. He could sit in a room unnoticed, something Eliza liked about him. Today for some reason he was very energetic though, and Eliza told him to calm down when the guests arrived. So he just sat there wanting to cause a ruckus, but not actually doing it. He just sat there and drank his bottle of wine. The wine he had on this night was given to him by Nate a while back, and even though he wanted to share with Eliza, Nate said that he should drink it alone, since it was intended for him

The dinner was at its halfway point. The part where everyone is done eating for the most part, and the conversation is supposed to get more interesting. In most cases Eliza waited for this moment to learn about whoever she had invited to dinner. On this night, she had invited people that she knew pretty well. Except for Mr. Oleg, Nate. He was quite the mysterious man, according to Eliza. Not because he didn’t talk a lot, or shunned the public eye, but because she got the sense that he was never being completely honest. There was no real proof behind this claim, but the feeling was still there. Still, she enjoyed listening to his responses. She placed her wine glass on the dark brown table.

“How are the kids, Nate?” She smiled at him. Nate was one of the only people whom she could not charm, but she never stopped trying. To admit defeat would be too painful.

“They’re fine. Probably having a blast right now.” He responded. His tone was bland, and littered with traces of his Siberian accent. There was once a time where he would regularly converse with Eliza. Mostly about Eastern Europe in general. Eliza found that he had many of the same views her father did, as he was from Scandinavia.

“I read somewhere that you just have to let them do their thing and they’ll learn on their own.” Kathy had a habit of throwing her two cents in when no one asked.

“Oh yeah?” Eliza went through the typical motions: Let them talk, and respond accordingly. Kathy fell right in.

“Oh yeah, there are all kinds of studies being done. There’s a lot of evidence.” She sported a very wide and toothy smile. Nate let out a big sigh. He knew that his wife wasn’t all that bright, but he never said anything. He just endured her.

“Eliza you’re kids seem so well behaved, I don’t know how you did it.” Lucy said. After the event at the grocery store she became the epitome of a sycophant. Eliza smiled. An elegant smile. Innocent and seductive. Angelic and devilish. None of it was real. She never really had any feelings towards compliments. She simply smiled so that the other person would feel at ease.

“You just have to be there” Eliza said. “If you’re just the authority, they won’t listen. Not willingly. All you have to do is love them.” She paused. “And don’t yell too much.” The room erupted in laughter. Mostly from the Olegs and Robinsons. Arthur could only manage a chuckle. Eliza noticed this. She cocked her head to the side.

“Are you okay, honey?” She asked, with her voice raised an octave. Arthur looked up and smiled, his teeth slightly yellow due to an eternity of smoking

“Yeah I’m fine” He replied. He sounded natural. But he was hiding something. And Eliza knew what it was.

Arthur and Eliza never really talked about how they met. There was a running joke in the neighborhood that they didn’t exist apart. They seemed to have an ideal life. A man that works hard and brings home the money, and a wife that loves her children and her husband. One of the things that Eliza kept secret from her husband though, was her dislike of his humanitarianism. Arthur would regularly donate to charity, something that infuriated Eliza. Why would he spend so much time trying to help people he doesn’t even know? Of course, she never said this to him. She simply endured.

“I’m gonna go check on the kids” Eliza said, as she gracefully floated from her seat. She made her way into the living room from the kitchen, and her beautiful smile gave way to a blank stare, devoid of any emotion. She glided up the stairs by the front entrance and walked to the door at the end of the hall. She slowly poked her head inside the dark room, only illuminated by a small night light in the corner. There were two beds separated by a table where a lamp rested.

Two children lay in the room, resting silently in the darkness. The girl, Serenity, was enveloped by her blanket and her head seemed to be a mass of hair on the pillow. The boy, William, was in a seemingly uncomfortable position, but he was fast asleep, and seemed to be okay. Eliza entered the room, and pulled up a stool in front of the two beds. She sat on the stool, and focused her gaze onto her children.

Eliza closed her eyes and let out a sigh. It was very likely that the two children were awake, only appearing asleep so that they would not catch a scolding. She opted to leave and let them resume their assumed conversation. She quietly walked out the door and rejoined the party downstairs.

“Fast asleep” Eliza said, showing off her smile once again. “They went to sleep so willingly today, and it’s kind of weird”

“Do they usually put up a fight?” James asked as he leaned towards her. Lucy twitched a little.

“Yeah you know how kids are. They want to stay up, but don’t really know why. They don’t listen when you tell them that nothing special happens late at night” Eliza explained.

“Plenty of good things happen at night” Arthur said. Eliza faced him and cocked her head, hoping to hear some examples.

“Late night talk shows, Stand-up comedy” Arthur was in fact a fan of late night comedy shows. Serenity often complained about being awakened by Arthur’s unrestrained cackling in the middle of the night. Perhaps that’s why they always wanted to stay up. Eliza didn’t really have any feelings towards them, or television in general. She did enjoy music though. Arthur didn’t quite like her taste in music, which was composed of mostly bass heavy trap rap. If Arthur was driving she would command the music, and she always played music of that particular flavor, regardless if the children were in the car. She sometimes sang along, which had gotten them quite a few puzzled looks. Most of them came from teachers and administrators from their children’s school.

Eliza chuckled at Arthur’s answer, “I should’ve expected you to say that.” Arthur sipped his wine.

“Just wait, I’m gonna be dying down here later.” He smiled, and is slightly yellow teeth flashed briefly. Eliza had been telling him since before they were married to stop smoking. Arthur never budged. He figured as long as he exercised and ate healthy he’d be alright. As of late he hadn’t been working out as much, and he was getting a little flabby around the edges. He would often try to deny it, but it was plain as day. Arthur also began to drink more, and his tolerance grew exponentially, which is why he could drink more than half the bottle of wine without feeling adverse effects.

The dinner party was beginning to hit a boring note. When this happened, Eliza was usually looked upon to salvage it. And so she tried.

“Okay, I have a good one” She said. “Knock knock?”

“Whose there” The group responded.

“Cargo”

“Cargo who”

“Cargo beep beep” Eliza grinned gleefully in the midst of absolute silence. Arthur let out a giant laugh that cut through the silence. Smaller chuckles crept up but eventually died down.

“Time to go” Nate said.

Arthur and Eliza said goodbye to the two families. James and Lucy stayed a hair longer, entirely due to the fact that James was still trying to court Eliza. She had grown somewhat bored of his antics tonight, and was eager to see him off. When she had finally escorted the families out she returned to the dining room where Arthur was still sitting, drinking his wine.

“Come on” Eliza said, taking Arthur’s hand and guiding him to the living room. They both sat in separate sofas facing towards each other, with a table in between them and the television off to the side. Eliza crossed her legs and smiled at Arthur.

“Did you have fun?” She asked. She wasn’t quite sure what his answer would be.

“I did!” he said excitedly. “I know I didn’t say much but I really had a good time” a wide grin crept across his face. He continued on.

“I guess I didn’t want to break my image or something, because I wanted to say a lot. And the food was great too. Did you do anything different or was it always that good?” He laughed a deep, hearty laugh. Eliza chuckled as well.

“I’ve been feeling down these last few weeks, but tonight has really made me feel a bit better. Thank you.” Arthur’s gratitude and appreciation radiated from him, and his smile was the brightest and most comforting it had ever been since his and Eliza’s marriage.

“And the knock-knock joke that you told was hilarious!” He laughed “And you normally suck at telling jokes, but you killed that one” Eliza sipped from her glass once again. She looked up and smiled that beautiful smile.

“You said you were feeling down. Why?” She asked. Arthur paused.

“I don’t even know. I gue-.” Eliza cut him off.

“Cancer. Stage four” Her smile grew wider. “I told you to stop smoking.” Arthur’s display of joy slowly gave way to a countenance of despair. He was about to ask how she knew. He was sure he had taken steps to prevent anyone finding out.

“I would tell you not to insult my intelligence, but you won’t really get the chance to.” Eliza’s face no longer displayed a simple smile. The ends of her mouth stretched back further than what was possible. And yet she looked more beautiful than ever before.

“I didn’t want to worry you all.” Arthur said, with tears rolling down his cheeks. “I didn’t want the kids to know that their father wasn’t going to make it.”

Eliza squeezed the glass and shattered it. The shards sliced open her hand, and crimson blood slid down her arm. Her smile vanished, and a blank expression was left in its wake

“What would I say to them when their father just disappeared?” Eliza asked in a calm emotionless tone. She grinned again.

“That’s not even the problem though.” Arthur’s confusion showed.

“What are you talking about?” He asked.

“The will” Eliza said. Arthur regained his composure. As if this was something that he was going to be firm about.

“I was going to share that with you at some point. You already know how I feel about this. If I die the last thing I wanna do is give the things I have to people less fortunate.”

“What about us?”

“You’re a smart girl, you’ll be able to get a job and run the household”

“We’d start with nothing. What of the kids?”

“Eliza I have to do this. I don’t want this weighing on me before I die. Knowing I could’ve done more.” Eliza paused.

“That sucks for you” She said. “You wanna know why you’ve been hyperactive all day?”

“Amphetamines. In your coffee this morning. In the water bottle I gave you after mowing the lawn. The three glasses of water I gave you. In the food I gave you, and in that big ass bottle.” She smiled wider. “You’ve been going a thousand miles an hour all day. You know what comes next right? Right!?”

That’s when Arthur felt that unholy stab in the chest. He looked lost. Helpless. He took an enormous gasp and gripped his chest, as if that would save his life. He clawed at his shirt, and began to sweat. Tears stained his cheeks.

“Eliza.” He gasped. “Eliz-a-ahh.” His words were almost unintelligible, drowned in pain and tears. He fell out of his seat and slumped to the floor, a mess of flesh and despair, clinging to life as he is dragged into oblivion

“Elizaahhh.” His final breath was followed by twitching, then a haunting silence.

Eliza stared at Arthur’s lifeless body for a while, and stood up. She walked upstairs and into her room. Deep in her husband’s dresser was the will. She proceeded to tear it to shreds. She then walked into her children’s room.

“I know you’re awake, come downstairs.” She promptly walked back down stairs and sat in her seat. Moments later, Serenity and William arrived, with smiles on their faces, expecting to behold the wonders of the late hours. No. Instead they came across their father, who had crossed death’s door. They had not yet realized the gravity of that they saw.

“Don’t. Say. A word.” Eliza spoke sternly, and the darkness of the room covered her face.

“I want you to know that I did this. I killed my husband. Your father.” In an instant the flood gates were opened, and the children wept. Their tiny faces tightened as they desperately tried to not make a sound.

“I also want you to know that I did this for us. For you.” She continued soothingly. “Both of you will undoubtedly grow up to despise me, and I have made my peace with that. I know you’ll understand one day.” She giggled.

“Or maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll never understand. But you will feel the effects of my actions today. And when you do just remember: Mommy loves you.” William and Serenity still desperately choked back their tears.

“Now go to sleep, you have school tomorrow.” The children slowly marched upstairs. Their screams echoes through the house as soon as they reached their room. Eliza sat there. In absolute darkness.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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