During the night, people think about their secrets they keep from their friends and how shocked those will be if the truth comes to light. And that they will do everything in their power to keep that from happening.

The streets were empty, because black night scared everyone into their houses. Streetlights and wavering lights of the skyline were turned off and everything came to a deadlock. Well, it was four o’clock in the morning and of course, no human being would leave its bed voluntarily. But sometimes a lost soul found its way onto the dark streets of Los Angeles and rarely for good reasons.
The moon was shining high above the streets, diving everything into a threatening light. The cloudless sky showed spots of shining stars, watching the sinful doings of the people on earth. A cold wind blew through the streets, taking along trash, cleaning the dirty streets again.
Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by a loud noise caused by a car. The glaring head-lights were shining through the darkness and made shadows flee.
The driver, Daniel Miller, wasn’t keen on driving at night. But unfortunately, he couldn’t prevent that. His affairs didn’t allow him to be careless. He turned on the radio, lit a cigarette, drew on it and rolled down the window. His wife didn’t like that bad habit, at all. Sometimes, Daniel couldn’t quite understand what had came over him to marry that crazy woman. He drew on his cigarette once more, flipped it out of the car window and with it, the uncomfortable thought about his loveless marriage.
He mashed on the gas pedal and shifted down a gear. Daniel hoped desperately that his wife was already asleep and wouldn’t question him about coming home that late. Hannah, his wife, was insanely jealous. No attractive woman was allowed to speak to Daniel without passing Hannah. She was controlling every little detail of Daniel’s pitiful life, starting at morning with his clothes and ending at night with the question: “Have you closed the door properly?” Lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed the car behind him. ‘Crap!’, he thought.
A police car had turned on the sirens, signalizing Daniel to pull over and a few minutes later, both cars came to a halt. Annoyed, Daniel searched for his driver’s licence and registration certificate. A policeman, wearing sunglasses for whatsoever reason, approach-ed Daniel’s car.
“I know, I know. I drove way too fast. Just give me the damn ticket!”, muttered Daniel and thrusted the papers into the policeman’s hand.
“You know we all have to share the road, but when you drive like that-“, the policeman began in a droning tone and Daniel assumed that he only wore those sunglasses to prevent anyone seeing his eye circles.
“Ya, ya. I’m not just a risk for myself, I’m a risk for others, as well. Listen, I’m a lawyer, I know my rights perfectly well. Please, would you just give me the ticket”, Daniel rolled his eyes, took the ticket and his papers back and threw them on the passengers seat. The policeman wanted to reply, but Daniel mashed on the gas pedal and turned up the radio.
The cold morning air blew through the open window and ruffled his hair, but he didn’t care. It got later and later and his wife got angrier, for sure. ‘Please be asleep,’ he thought despaired.
Daniel turned into a dark street. He lived in a huge tower building and from his apartment you got the best view over Los Angeles. Certainly, Daniel had to spend half of his pay check just on rent for the apartment. The door of the underground garage opened automatically and he pulled the car into a parking lot. Daniel turned off the motor, got out and pressed a button which locked the car.
His steps resounded and Daniel hated the feeling of being observed which was easily created in that coolly, gray, dimly lit hall with concrete floor. He suppressed the scary


feeling, he always had at night, because as a lawyer, there are loads of people who might want to see you dead.
The elevator doors opened and Daniel stepped inside. He pressed the button for the fifth floor and the doors closed immediately. It slowly moved higher and higher. His stomach tensed up and it seemed that his heart was beating painfully against his chest. Daniel thought about an excuse for his delay, but before he could collect his thoughts the doors opened.
The dark corridor made a terrifying impression. It was really odd, because at night even the friendliest environment seemed to become dangerous, even if there was nothing to be afraid of. Daniel fished his keys out of his pocket and scuffled to apartment number fifty-three. A shroud of silence surrounded him while he put the key into the keyhole with trembling hands.
Relieved he closed the door on his way in. The lights were out and he couldn’t hear anything, except for himself breathing. He left his shoes at the doorway, pulled off his coat and tiptoed through the corridor. When he could make out the bedroom, his heart was thumping like mad, again.
The door stood ajar. A chink of light flooded into the corridor and cleaved the darkness in two. Slowly, Daniel drew nearer and reached out. In that moment, a strange sound came out of the room, as if something had fallen to the ground. Anxiously, he opened it.
The bedroom was tidy and decorated tastefully. The two bedside lamps filled the room with a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Hannah had decorated the whole apartment on her own and was proud of it. Well, the result put in an appearance. But something wasn’t in its usual place. In the bedroom a chair lay on the ground and Hannah was dangling from the ceiling, apparently lifeless. The scarf around her neck, strangulated her trachea.
Daniel gasped. To his own horror he hesitated for a few seconds, but then ran to the bed, grabbed the scissors, climbed on the chair and cut the scarf.
Hannah was breathing slightly, but her eyes were still closed. Instantly, Daniel called 911. Of course, if he had known what she was about to do to his life, he would have left her hanging there.
The flashing, blue light of the ambulance appeared seven minutes later. A crowd of tired-looking people in dressing gowns with disheveled hair, unbrushed teeth and unmade-up faces, gathered around the ambulance. They were speculating about what had happened, standing in front of the tower building.
On the fifth floor, apartment fifty-three, the paramedics put senseless Hannah on a stretcher and carried her off the building. Here and there an apartment door opened and a neighbour stuck out his head, still half asleep. But when they faced the paramedics, their eyes widened and they could only look in horror at what took place in the middle of the night.
All the way down into the entrance hall, Daniel held Hannah’s hand and couldn’t even remember what he had thought, ten minutes earlier. The imagination of losing Hannah, gave him to understand what he really felt for her. Unaware of the future, he wouldn’t hurt her again intentionally.
At that very moment, when Hannah was carried out of the building, people looked at her in shock, but just for a moment. One must know that the citizens of Los Angeles have a dubious habit. They like to tattle. And a woman, carried out of her own apartment, un-conscious, followed by her husband, was the perfect template. Just as the ambulance doors were closed and it pulled away, the whispering began.


The thought of lying next to Hannah in their bed without any problems, seemed far away. Although Hannah had been without oxygen for just a few minutes, she hadn’t woken up yet. The ambulance drove into the driveway of the Pure Spirit Hospital. Instantly the

stretcher was carried out and into the hospital. Daniel was running next to the paramedics and didn’t stop holding his wife’s hand.
An hour later, the doctor was sure that Hannah had no inner injuries and it would only be a matter of time for her to wake up again. The doctor had also mentioned that she had to stay in the hospital for an additional day, which wasn’t unusual for patients, who had tried to commit suicide.
Dawn was breaking and Daniel truly felt tired. He decided to go downstairs, because he had noticed a coffee machine there, earlier. Caffeine was the only thing to wake him up again.
The cafeteria was nearly empty. Just two doctors occupied a table and the cashier, a young coloured boy, sat at the cash till, absorbed in a magazine with the title “10 hints how to get a woman above your level”.
Daniel grasped a cup and filled it with hot coffee and forgot to pay for it, accidentally. Slowly he went to a table and sat down. He didn’t notice the man who called for him twice.
“Daniel, is that you?”, said the, so far, unnoticed man again and approached his table.
“Adam?”, he asked astonished. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe, for two more months!”, Daniel spoke in a depressed tone, put on a forced smile, then stood up and shook his hand. Adam Sanders was a tall, handsome-looking man with short blond hair. Daniel and he got to know each other at Hannah’s birthday party and became good friends. Since then, Adam had introduced them to loads of girlfriends, which became more and more stupid each and every time. “I’m not the guy for steady relationships”, he said everytime he broke up with one of the women.
“Well, I thought I’d come and visit my best college friend while I’m here, but I got sick and it turned out that I had a slight attack of appendicitis. So, where is my favorite friend Hannah?”, Adam asked and looked around, as though she’d appear from behind a niche, yelling: “Surprise.” Daniel’s stomach constrained and he explained hoarsely what had happened. With every word he spoke, Adam became more and more frightened. When he stopped talking, Adam sat down, looking at Daniel in total disbelief.
“Why would she do something stupid like that?”, he muttered, more to himself than to Daniel.
“She hasn’t woken up yet. Of course, the police will come and ask lots of questions. I can tell you further details, as soon as Hannah wakes up. Only if you want to”, Daniel sipped on his cup of coffee and looked out of the window. The sky was light red and covered by heavy, black clouds. It began to drizzle and slight raindrops patterned against the windows of the cafeteria. For a few minutes, Daniel and Adam sat motionless face-to-face, leaving their conversation in an awkward silence.
“Mr. Miller?”, Doctor Reed’s dark voice cut through the morning silence at the cafeteria. He was Hannah’s doctor and looked shockingly happy in spite of the sad tragedy haunting Daniel’s thoughts.
Daniel looked puzzled into the unlined face of the doctor who was apparently perfectly familiar with the use of botox. “Yes? Is everything alright with my wife?”, he asked tensed.
“Yes”, Doctor Reed said without showing any emotion. “She just woke up and I just wanted to let you know that you can go see her now, if you want to.”


Daniel nodded silently and stood up. Abruptly Dr. Reed’s beeper went off and he excused himself and left. “You want to come with me? After all, you haven’t seen her for months”, Daniel looked at Adam impatiently. He nodded slightly and followed Daniel down the empty hallway.
Daniel barely noticed the people around him. In that particular moment, it seemed there was nothing more important than to see his wife and to make sure that she was fine. After all, he did love her. ‘You do?’, a soft voice said in his mind. “Of course I do!”, he muttered. “I would never do anything to hurt her”, Daniel felt ashamed. Ashamed of himself, because he still thought he hadn’t done anything wrong. ‘But you already did’, the gentle voice replied with a slight giggle. ‘Weren’t it your actions which tempted Hannah to commit suicide?’. Daniel shook his head and the feeling of guilt overcame him. ‘It’s a bad feeling, isn’t it? As a lawyer you may not have had the pleasure of this feeling, so far. Daniel, you feel guilty’, the tone of the voice became serious. ‘You did something terrible and I know you would have done the same thing as Hannah in her place. “Yes!”, Daniel said aloud and doubled his fists.
“Yes, what?”, Adam asked confused and looked at him.
“Nothing!”, he countered.
Adam watched him warily, opened his mouth but closed it again. He didn’t want to bother him with questions about weird behaviour, because Daniel had enough to worry about.
The light of the rising sun shone through the curtains into Hannah’s room. The slight warmth gave Hannah a comfortable feeling. For one moment she forgot about the problems which swirled around her and just enjoyed that beautiful moment, she had so few of. She felt a little tired and her neck hurt, but given the circumstances Hannah had been in luck. If Daniel hadn’t saved her, she would probably be lying on a litter, down in the funeral parlor. She wasn’t quite sure if that had been the right solution to solve all problems. On the one hand, Daniel would be forced to talk about their issues, he had caused, but on the other hand she didn’t feel strong enough to speak about problems which definitely could end the marriage. Suddenly, she was jolted out of her thoughts, because Daniel entered the room followed by Adam.
“Good morning, honey”, said Daniel and kissed Hannah on her cheek.
“Hey”, she replied hoarsely and allowed Daniel’s kiss reluctantly. “What are you doing here, Adam? I thought you were in Europe, working for two more months”, Hannah didn’t bother to look at Daniel and focused on Adam. She sat up and waited for him to answer.
“Are you serious?”, Adam sounded angry, but Daniel had no clue why.
“I don’t really know what you mean, Adam”, Hannah looked confused and tried not to sound reproachful, because that wasn’t the behavior you’d show towards someone who had intended to commit suicide a few hours earlier.
“Do you really want to go on with this little small talk? You asked about my welfare, what’s next? The weather? Let’s face it, you tried to commit suicide”, Adam snapped, then took a deep breath and went on: “I told you what had happened to my sister and to my whole family! Four weeks later, you had no better idea than to tie a scarf around your neck and to jump from a chair?”, Adam was breathing heavily and looked furious. When he caught Hannah’s eye, the feeling of awkwardness took over and left the little room.
Daniel was really curious what all that was about, but now he had more important thoughts on his mind than that. He wanted to figure out why his wife had tried to kill herself, but he had a painful, burning feeling that he already knew the answer and wouldn’t like it at all. Actually, there wasn’t a single minute in which Daniel and Hannah couldn’t find the right talking point to discuss just anything. Daniel felt helpless, because he couldn’t deal with the situation and inside of him there was utter chaos.
How do you deal with a human being who survived a suicide attempt? That’s something you hadn’t learned at school. How blind can someone be to overlook the obvious problems one has? Is it respect making us fall silent in the wrong situations? Is it embarrassment, we feel when we are confronted with our friend’s problems or is it defenselessness which petrifies us? To put yourself in the situation of the one who demanded our help seems hard, because every situation is different and has to be treated differently.
“I know”, muttered Hannah without looking up, Daniel could see how hard it was for her, though.
“What do you mean?”, but he definitely knew the answer, before Hannah could say the words which seemed like needles, pricking into his heart.
“That you cheated on me, five months ago”, it was the first time that Hannah looked up accusingly and deeply into Daniel’s eyes, but he wished she wouldn’t.
Apparently his voice vanished, unable to speak, he nodded. His mind was paralyzed by the situation although Daniel had imagined this day very often, but it never occurred to him that it would hurt that much emotionally.
“You don’t need to answer. I just want you to know that I forgave you. Five months ago, I couldn’t understand how a loving person inflicts such a terrible loss to his beloved one. Now I understand how easy a mistake can happen to everyone of us.”
“What do you mean with you can understand how easy a mistake can happen?”, Daniel looked confused, not because he found his voice again, but rather he wasn’t aware of any mistakes his wife had ever done.
“You’ll come to know soon”, replied Hannah with a cold blooded voice and a creepy smile on her face. This odd behaviour should have worried Daniel, but he just thought it was a side effect of the medicine.
It became quiet again and Daniel pretended as if the bird outside the window was highly fascinating. Unfortunately, the slight drizzle turned into a flood of raindrops which patterned hard against the window and Daniel couldn’t make out the bird through the dense rain any longer. ‘Maybe the wind blew it away’, he thought and couldn’t quite believe his own ridiculous thoughts, though. The sun, shining powerful through the drizzle earlier, was now nothing more than a little point one could make out because of the heavy black clouds, now covering the gloomy sky.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door and it turned out to be the nurse who stuck her head into the room. Smiling and quite proud of her white teeth which dazzlingly white (Daniel was pretty sure) must have come out of a carton saying: “Natural white for your teeth. Even you can smile like a Hollywood-Star! (No Guarantee)”
“What is it?”, Daniel asked as if she would have interrupted them in an important conversation. The effect was astonishing. The smile on the nurse’s face vanished and she glanced at him with a sight saying: Shall you be rude to me again I will get you down.
“Two policemen are waiting outside and want to speak to Mrs. Miller. Alone!”, she added and her sight became even colder. Daniel hesitated for a moment then went out of Hannah’s room without saying anything else.
In the corridor Adam was sitting on a chair, starring at the white wall, ostensibly thinking about something. When Daniel was about to sit next to him, the two policemen appeared behind a corner whispering excited and didn’t notice Adam or Daniel.
For a couple of minutes they were just sitting next to each other without saying a word. Daniel had the impression that Adam hadn’t even noticed him yet. When he reclined his head, curiosity about his weird behaviour and the reference to his family hit Daniel’s mind once more. “What happened to your family?”, he asked and tried not to sound too curious.
“Why do you want to know?”, Adam asked without looking at him.
‘Because I'm bursting with curiosity’, Daniel thought, but didn’t say it out loud, of course. After all, his parents had taught him a spark of decency.
“Well”, Adam breathed heavily and without waiting Daniel to answer he began to tell the story of his family which made his heart bleed everytime he did: “My grandma and grandpa had died right before we had been born, in a car crash. Cancer had been a big problem for my mom and she died of it when I was six. My sister couldn’t quite understand what had happened, she had just turned four. Leaving only my father, my sister and my uncle. Until my sixteenth birthday nothing unusual had happened. Then my dad returned from a business trip on Christmas Day and got shot. He died in front of our eyes. The case was closed when the police thought a good friend of our family, who was also an former lover of my mother, wanted to kill us to get the inheritance. He was killed in front of us, too. The only relative who was left then, was our uncle”, Adam paused and his eyes filled with tears. “Apparently the police shot the wrong man, because my uncle was the actual murderer and he tried to kill us just to get the inheritance which was inherited to his sister, my mother. We were alone in his apartment and the police had no clue that uncle Victor was the devil who had torn us apart. He aimed a gun at me and shot”, again Adam stopped and buried his face in his hands. “My sister jumped in front of me and got hit by the bullet. She pushed him out of an open window with the last of her strength. He died on the way to the hospital just like my sister.”
Daniel looked at Adam pitiful and tried to find something to say, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t possible for him to imagine being without a family. Daniel knew that his mother and father would die someday and that was OK, but to actually see how life was shot out of them like Adam did, was disturbing. Now, it had become comprehensible to Daniel that the suicide-attempt had been a sort of flashback for Adam.

* * *

“Miss?”
Hannah looked up, right into the tired-looking face of a policeman. His hair showed grey spots and his three-day beard seemed to make his face look even more sunken. Hannah’s eyes moved away from his face to his right hand. A white mark on his ring finger made her assume that he got divorced recently. His colleague looked tired, as well. ‘Well, you aren’t looking like a supermodel, either!’ she thought and tried to catch a little glimpse of herself in the mirror and nearly screamed. Her neck was laced with bruises and she didn’t even want to look at her hair. Normally, she looked perfectly when leaving the flat.
“Misses Miller?”, said the, potentially divorced, policeman again.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was preoccupied and didn’t notice you”, Hannah replied with a forced smile. In the presence of people she always tried to cover her true feelings up.
“Given the circumstances it’s understandable. I’m officer Jackson and this is my partner Mayfair. We won’t bother you for long, there are just a few questions we have to ask you”, his partner got a tablet and a pen and began to write. “Have you been forced to kill yourself. Maybe by your husband? Did he tell you to or did he abuse you?”
“No, he has never abused me in any way. I guess you could have called us a perfect couple.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but you said you could have called us a perfect couple? What happened?”, Officer Mayfair questioned and stopped writing, for a while.
“Something happened, indeed. It’s just that I do not want to talk about it!”, answered Hannah in a dead serious tone, but officer Mayfair missed the undertone obviously.
“Well, if it’s important for the case you should tell us.”
“It’s none of your business. The only thing you should know is that I tried to commit suicide and nobody helped or forced me. Neither my husband nor anyone else”, Hannah said calmly, still smiling.
“To be honest Mrs. Miller there is something strange about your suicide-attempt”, mumbled officer Mayfair and began to write.
“And what would that be?”
“The suicide note is missing. And the scarf was tied in a French knot, which doesn’t strangulate the trachea properly. You could hang there for hours without dying. My question is: Did you really want to die?”, Officer Mayfair and Officer Jackson looked closely for a reaction in Hannah’s face. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single reaction.
“I think it’s enough, here. You may go now!”, Hannah said and if you listened carefully you could here the slight threat in her voice.
“I see. But we will come back, Mrs. Miller. There are still some questions and answers missing!”, Officer Jackson turned around and went out of the room. His colleague looked confused. Apparently he didn’t understand why his partner had given up so quickly, but in the end he left the room, too.
As soon as they were out of sight, the forced smile in Hannah’s face turned into an angry expression. ‘Naive policemen. Your thoughts are blinded by your eyes. Men are so fore-seeable’ she thought. ‘And there may be another meeting, but not the way you would expect it to be, Officer.’

* * *

As the policemen left the room, they looked at Daniel accusingly as though he had helped his wife to commit suicide. He didn’t know whether to go into the room again or not. But his problem to make a decision had vanished as soon as Hannah got out of her room, fully dressed (well, in her pajamas in which she had arrived). She had tied her hair together and buttoned up her pyjamas until it covered her neck. “Are you coming or what?”, she barked without looking at him, but going straight to the reception. “Yeah, hi!”, Hannah said and lost the nice tone in her voice. “My name is Hannah Miller. I should stay one more night, but I want to leave. Now!”, the cold look in her eyes would even turn the meanest person in world to a little crying baby.
“B-B-But”, the nurse stuttered, too frightened to gainsay Hannah. “If the doctor told you to stay for another night you should do so.”
‘Oh, Lord’, Adam thought, but it wasn’t god who stopped Hannah from jumping over the reception and going for the nurses throat. It was doctor Reed.
“May I help you?”, he said calmly.
“You may get the paper which I’ll sign to get out of here!”
“It would be better for your sake not to leave the hospital in your momentary condition.”
“I’m fine and I want to leave now!”, for Hannah the conversation was over and she would leave the building, whether with permission or without.
“If you insist on leaving the hospital, I think there’s nobody who can stop you”, said the doctor, still calm.
“No there isn’t”, and she signed a paper which the nurse just got out of a drawer. Stamping, she left the hospital and it was hard for Daniel to keep up with her. Outside, however, was waiting a cab and bewildered Daniel and furious Hannah got inside.
“What’s the matter with you? You were acting like a fury in there!”, Daniel whispered after a while. He didn’t want the cab-driver to hear anything about their conversation, because most of them are tattlers.
“Don’t bother me!”, Hannah replied sharply.
“Could you please tell me why you became so angry from one moment to the other?”
“I think my life has become stressful in the last few weeks and in some situation I may overreact”, and suddenly the tone of her voice became friendly, nearly sadly again. “Can’t you get a few weeks off? I believe vacation is the best solution for me right now.”
‘I don’t believe you a word’, Daniel thought full of doubt. Something in her voice sounded dishonest and she wanted to hide it. They were married for eight years though and Adam could easily tell when she was lying. ‘I wonder what the policemen said to her.’ One could see that her whole mood had changed and for Adam there was just no reason which seemed plausible. “Of course we can go on vacation. Just tell me where to go.”
The cab stopped in front of the tower building. It had stopped raining and the sun shone beggarly through the clouds. A usual day, one would say, but for Daniel it had been the worse day in his life and he was glad that everything turned out well. He couldn’t think of something else to happen. Unfortunately for him, it always gets worse.
They paid the cab driver, who looked quite familiar to Daniel on closer inspection, and entered the underground garage. They didn’t want to go through the entrance hall, because Hannah wasn’t in the mood for answering questions about what had happened. The creepy feeling overcame Daniel when they were walking in the direction of the elevator. Steps on the grey concrete floor, a clicking noise, a bullet hitting the wall next to them. Daniel and Hannah turned around, looking shockingly into the angry distorted face of the cab driver, aiming a gun at them.
“Chris Gordon”, Daniel whispered unconscious.
“Finally we are meeting each other”, shouted Chris through the garage. “You fool took everything I loved.”
“What is he taking about?”, Hannah asked as if no gun was pointed at them and they were just having a nice conversation with an old friend.
“His ex-wife was a client of mine”, said Daniel and remembered.
“YOU FORCED HER TO LEAVE ME!”, Chris screamed, holding the revolver in his hand shakily. “You confused her so that she would leave me. And then you took my kids.”
“She was afraid of you, Chris. She thought if she wouldn’t leave, you would hit her or worse your children. And apparently she was right to be afraid of you, doing something stupid”, Daniel tried to sound calmly and suppressed his frightened feelings.
“Nonsense!”
“I never made her to leave you. Last week, she told me how happy she is-“
“Shut up, Shut up, Shut up! I know what you did last week. Did you always sleep with your clients?”
Bam. That question was like a punch in Daniel’s face and took his breath away. He didn’t dare to look at his wife. Daniel had bitterly hoped, his wife wouldn’t come to know that he hadn’t stopped cheating on her. Heat rose inside, visible in his face. ‘Did he have to tell her? She went through enough today and now a stranger told her that I cheated on her, again’, Daniel thought desperately.
“I will hurt you, like you did to me! Die, bastard!”, a quiet clicking noise and the bullets flew through the air. Instantly Daniel went flat and pulled Hannah down. After a few seconds the clicking sound was audible again. Chris emptied the clip.
Both lay on the hard grey floor and listened. Fast steps, a door slam and the engine of the cab started and soon wasn’t audible any longer. Slowly he and Hannah stood up, still bewildered of what just exactly happened. They were still alive, but as a matter of fact Daniel didn’t feel happy about it. Now he could understand why his wife couldn’t see any solution than to kill herself. He had cost her so much pain and even he felt like rubbish. Daniel looked into Hannah’s eyes, but it seemed she banned every emotion from her face. She turned around and waited for the elevator to come.
Torn of what to do, Daniel closed the door to apartment number fifty-three. Silence. It creeps inside whenever it disturbs the most. No one bothered to turn on the lights. Hannah went on the small balcony and Daniel stood in the center of the living-room, watching her. The clouds covered the sky and shadows took place in the small apartment which had been furnished so tastefully. Now everything seemed grey and bleak and unimportant to Daniel. The only thing he had done right in his life, and he was sure about it, was to marry Hannah. His knees become weak and he sat onto the couch. Without knowing exactly what he was doing he turned on the TV.
“A twenty nine years old woman was found in her room, strangulated”, a news reporter spoke loudly and behind him a picture of the woman was shown. ‘Catherine Potter’, Daniel recognized her on the picture. She was one of his affairs. ‘Coincidence? Hannah acted strange the whole day and spoke of a mistake she had done and than she wanted to go on vacation.’ Daniel stood up, without turning off the television and stepped outside.
“You killed her?”, the words blurt out, before he could think about it.
“Yes”, Hannah said briefly and knew exactly what he was talking about, didn’t show any sign of guiltiness or regret though.
“Why?”
“She deserved it. She was a slut and didn’t deserve to live for what she had done.”
“Didn’t I deserve to be alive, too? Only because of one mistake?”
“Yes!”, Hannah turned around, her eyes bloody red, punched him in his face and hustled him over the banister. For a second Daniel tried to crap the banister with his hand, but it was too slippery and so he fell five floors and right onto the wet street. Dead.
Trance-like Hannah got a scarf and tied it around her neck. The living-room was flooded with darkened sunlight when she climbed on a chair and attached the scarf at the ceiling. She breathed heavily and made sure that the scarf was attached correctly. Then she stepped into nothing and her trachea got corded up. Unable to breathe she hang in the living-room, unconsciously hearing the ending of a soap opera in the television:
“Have you met the perfect couple? The two soulmates whose love never dies? The two lovers whose relationship is never threatened? The husband and wife who trust each other completely? If you haven’t met the perfect couple, let me introduce you. They stand atop of a layer of butter-cream frosting. The secret of their success? Well, for starters: They don’t have to look at each other.”

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 02.10.2010

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An unfaithful man and his wife who can't deal with it..