Here Without You

A man returns home one day after a tiring day of work. He just wants to sit around and love his wife, give her warm hugs and receive kisses before he tucks in for the night. He drives into the porch in his vintage car and gives a honk while parking in the usual spot, to signal to his wife that he has returned.

Glancing out the window, he tries to spot the sweet smile of his darling wife welcoming him.

-Nothing-

He feels something amiss. Opening the door of his car, he feels a warm touch above his brow and all round his scalp. Must be the weather. Quickly he rushes to the front door, with thoughts running through his mind: "Maybe my wife is giving me a surprise! She's just waiting for me to walk through that door so that she can run to me and give me a hug. Yes, that's it."

The man carefully inserts the key into the keyhole, and his heart grows warm anticipating the warm arms of embrace that he is about to receive. The key turns, *click*. "I'm home darling!"

-Nothing-

Something is wrong. The man looks around the house, everything is in the right place. No signs of struggle or anything amiss. But where is my darling wife? The man feels a strange warm aura that resonates from his back. He smiles for an unknown reason. He feels as though there's someone there, but his eyes deceive him.

He walks up the stairs and goes to the bedroom; if there is a surprise, then it must be my wife waiting in bed with her sexy lingerie. "Oh that'd be so nice. No wonder its quiet around here."

He walks up to the bedroom door. In his heart are two emotions; one anticipating the possibility of a great night ahead, the other a sad desperate feeling. But he's not gonna take any chances, he's longing to see her. His hands grasp the cold metal of the knob and turns its gently. *swoosh*

-Nothing-

The man sits down on the side of the bed and wonders: "Where has my wife gone?" She never leaves home. No, in fact, i don't expect her to leave home. Its not normal for me not to know where she is. And what is this mild warmth that I feel all around me? Then it struck him.

She had always been there. She had always been around the house. In fact she had always been there behind him, and she had been hugging him ever since he stepped out of the car. His selfishness, sorrow, insecurity and jealousy had created a world that had covered his eyes so that he had been blinded from her. In this world, she cannot follow him; instead he has to open his eyes to find her. To find her in another world where she can care for him: One where she isn't the only person in the world, one where she has her own things to do, her own places to go, her own destiny to fulfill. He cannot depend on her to be his only other person in the world; because she isn't.

The man stands up and screams his lungs out, "Give me back my wife!" The resonant silence in the air strikes him back.

-Nothing-

It's all up to him now.