Aftermath by Helen Rana
Glen fidgeted beside Caroline, radiating happiness. She scowled and pushed him away when he tried to hold her hand. She’d had enough of him, she wanted him to go away now. She leaned her forehead against the window and stared out at the rainy airport, cutting him out of her field of vision.
‘St Lucia, here we come!’ he chirped, cheerfully.
She hated the way he pronounced ‘come’. It was more like ‘cumb’. The way he said ‘go’ was even worse. ‘Guh.’ Hello was ‘helluuh’. His voice was so irritating.
All the passengers had boarded and the safety briefing began.
She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. She kept staring fixedly away. Any minute now he would grab her and lunge in for a kiss.
She felt despondent in the aftermath. For two years she had been filled with determination and inspiration, working towards her goal with utter dedication, basking in people’s attention, interest, admiration and approval. Now it was all over. She was left thousands of pounds in debt, with nothing to look forward to and a lot of un-reusable items to store somewhere in the tiny home she had allowed Glen into.
He clutched at her neck. ‘Gissa a kiss!’
She hated him.
‘This is for our honeymoon couple!’ a steward handed Glen two plastic glasses of cheap fizz.
Caroline burst into tears. She felt bereft, sobbing with grief at the loss of an era. Of purpose in her life.
‘What’s up?’ Glen asked, solicitously. He sniffed, another of his annoying habits.
She could hardly speak through the tears. Eventually, she uttered, ‘You!’
‘Me? What do you mean?’
‘I don’t want you! I don’t want to be with you.’
She really wished she was flying abroad with her friends, not this man.
‘What?’ He was astonished and hurt. ‘Well, why did you bother marrying me if you didn’t want a husband?’
‘I didn’t want a husband,’ she replied, truthful with him for the first time ever. ‘I wanted a wedding.’
Helen Rana is a freelance writer, editor and researcher working with museums, universities, creative and cultural organisations. She was a Writer Associate in creative writing at Bath Spa University in 2017-21. Her non-fiction book ‘Workplaces’, about organisational cultures, is currently on sale in bookshops and online. Her short stories have recently been published in anthologies. Her screenplays have been selected for several festivals and won awards.
Photo by Jude Lee on flickr.com
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