The Day After

Jeff woke up. He looked accross at the emply spot next to him. The previous night the warm body of the woman he had been married to for 20 years took that position. Today for the first time in years he woke up alone. He felt numb. The trauma of having to submit to this kind of change had overloaded his nervous system. He looked around the room. Yesterday this was a home, warm and vibrant with life. Today it is just a place to keep all his crap.

The house looked the same as it did the day before. The walls where still adorned with the same pictures. The same knick knacks filled shelves. The same family pictures were scattered about in various places. But without her it was no longer a home. Without her it no longer had a purpose. It was just a place to crash for the night.

He got up out of bed and walked down the hall. There were two other bedrooms in the house. The first one he passed he looked inside. There was a princess bed and small vanity was in one corner of the room. Dolls laid on the floor. Just the previous night his daughter Jennifer snuggled close to him as he read her a bed time story. He remembered her putting her small arms around his neck and kissing him for the last time. Now the room was vacant. Just the reminders were left.

The last bedroom had a racecar bed. On the wall was a poster of Spiderman from the comic books. His son Paul had just learned how to catch a baseball. He had been practicing with him and when he finally got the hang of it, it was a proud moment. Now along with that moment, he's gone.

Jeff didn't feel like eating. He didn't feel like doing anything. Unfortunately he had to go on living. It wasn't one day at a time, it was one minute at a time. The life he had built had been torn down. He still had his job and his money. He still had all the material things he had yesterday, but today it didn't matter. Without her lips pressing against his to wish him a good day. Without the little arms around his neck giving him a hug it meant nothing.

He would feel anger in time. He would feel regret in time. He would feel hopeless in time. But that time was not now. Now he had to take care of business. The question of why she had to leave him and take his reason for living with her would have to wait. Jeff threw some clothes on and got into his car. He didn't care about his appearance now. She wasn't there to scold him for wearing the same pants several days in a row.

He backed out of the driveway. The drive downtown seemed to go in slow motion. He didn't want to go but he wanted to get it over with. Finally he reached his destination. He got out of his car, entered the building and identified the bodies.