Topic 26: Sated
May. 7th, 2012 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
java_fiendOnce again, I lay my offering upon the altar of the mighty Idol gods. As always, may they be kind and generous...
Aaron sits on the back deck overlooking the lake as the sun begins to slip below the horizon casting the calm water in brilliant and fiery shades of orange, red and purple. The sounds of sweeping draw his attention to the right. As always, old Mrs. Karnecki glares at him while she sweeps as if he had something do with the dirt that had accumulated on her deck.
“Good evening, Mrs. Karnecki,” Aaron calls as he raises his bottle of beer in greeting.
She gives one final, violent sweep with her broom before turning and going inside without having ever returned his greeting.
“Crazy old bat.”
He clenches his jaw and feels his stomach tighten at the sound of Elise’s car pulling to a stop in the driveway. He takes another long swallow of his beer and leans back in the chair and waits for the nightly argument. He idly wonders what it will be about this time. The front door slams shut and is followed by her footsteps crossing the hardwood floor toward the kitchen. He knows the routine so well, he predicts the moment her keys would strike the countertop with a jangle followed the soft thump of her bag. He knows that she will next grab the wine bottle from the refrigerator, pour herself a glass and drain half of it to fortify herself before coming out to fight with him about his latest transgression. Whatever it might be. That’s been the pattern nearly every day for the last two months. All they ever did anymore was fight.
Aaron takes another drink as he ponders where it had all gone sideways between him and Elise. Everything has been so great between them for so long and she’s everything he ever wanted in another person. But lately, he can’t stand the sight of her. Nor can she stand the sight of him. After they’d moved in to this, their dream home, Elise had totally changed. She wasn’t the same woman he’d fallen in love with and married. She’s become somebody else entirely.
Aaron tenses as he hears Elise’s footsteps on the floor again but he finds himself surprised. Instead of coming out to the deck, ready to fight, her footsteps fade as she walks down the hallway and away from him. Maybe she doesn’t have it in her to fight tonight. The sound of the bedroom door slamming drifts to him from the back of the house and the tension in his shoulders begin to fade.
“I wish I knew what happened to us, Elise.” Aaron drains the last of the bottle and hurls it toward the lake.
*******
“Oh my god honey,” Elise squealed. “I love it. I absolutely love it. We have to have this one.”
Aaron smiled and put his finger to his lips to quiet her down. He didn’t want the realtor to have the advantage of knowing they really wanted the place. Elise smiled at him before going to explore house again as he stepped out on to the back deck and looked out at the lake that lay beyond. It was perfect. Too good to be true, actually. Which was something that always made him skeptical. But the price was right, the surrounding community was nearly idyllic and when the time was right and they decided to start a family, the school system was top-notch. No doubt, these were conclusions that Elise had already come to. But there was something hiding amongst the dark shadows of his mind nagging him.
“Anybody ever tell you that you think too much?” Elise slipped her arms around his waist and nuzzled his neck.
“Yeah, my wife tells me that all the time.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
Aaron turned around and pulled her to him, breathing in the scent of her skin and her hair. Maybe it was simply a case of nerves. Home ownership was a big step and a big responsibility. Ditto that on children.
“She is,” he said. “She’s much smarter than I am.”
She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. “And she’s obviously trained you very well.”
“That she has.”
The first six months in the new house had gone by in a blur of decorating, unpacking and settling in. When the dust had finally settled, Aaron and Elise were pleased with their new home. They had everything just as they liked it and it was starting to feel like home.
Aaron had the music up and was humming along with the song as he cooked. The air around him was redolent with the aroma of garlic. He’d gotten home from work early and wanted to surprise Elise by making her dinner. Her favorite meal, in fact. He’d already uncorked a bottle of wine and was busy chopping onions when he heard the front door slam shut. She was home early. He turned around with a big smile on his face when she walked into the kitchen.
“Hey honey,” he said. “How was—”
“Does the goddamn music have to be up so loud?” she barked.
The smile died on his lips. “Sorry,” he said. “I just—”
“Is a little peace and quiet at home too much to ask for?”
“Woah, babe. I was just mak—”
Elise slammed her keys and bag down on the counter, a look of fury on her face.
“You know, Aaron,” she started, her voice tight with tension. “I’m getting really tired of your inconsiderate bullshit. I work hard all day and all I want is to come home and relax. But no, I have to come home to a fucking rock concert.”
She looked at the meal he was preparing with a look of disgust. She shook her head, turned and walked out of the kitchen.
“Enjoy your dinner,” she shouted over the music. “I’m not hungry.”
A moment later, the bedroom door slammed shut leaving Aaron feeling stunned as he stood at the counter with a knife and a partially cut onion in his hand and a million questions firing through his mind.
The sound of the vacuum cleaner pulled him out of a deep sleep. He opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn’t. His head throbbed and it felt like cotton had been jammed into his mouth. He felt like he had a hangover. Looking at the array of beer bottles on the floor beside the couch where he’d fallen asleep, he knew why he felt like he had a hangover. Running his hand over his face, he sat up and looked at his watch.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mumbled.
Elise was vacuuming the carpet behind the couch, seemingly oblivious to him.
“Elise,” he shouted over the sound of the vacuum.
But she completely ignored him and continued her cleaning.
“Hey!” He shouted even louder and waved his arms.
If she saw or heard him, she gave no acknowledgement. He grumbled a string of profanities as he stood up, stumbled over his discarded bottles and made his way over to the wall socket where he ripped the plug out of the wall. The vacuum died instantly and Elise turned on him, her face a mask of rage.
“What the fuck, Aaron?”
“I’m trying to get some fucking sleep,” he shouted.
“And this house needs to be cleaned,” she screamed back. “It’s not like you’re doing anything to help me.”
“It’s six in the morning,” he yelled. “On a Saturday. Does it have to be done right this goddamned second?”
“Maybe if you got off your ass and helped out around here, it wouldn’t have to be!”
“What is your problem, Elise?”
“You are,” she screamed. “You’re my problem!”
He turned around just in time to see her launching one of his discarded beer bottles at him. He tried to move out of the way but it still managed to glance off his forehead before shattering against the wall behind him. With a shaking hand, he touched his forehead and looked at the bright crimson smears on his fingertips. He felt the rage building to a crescendo inside of him.
“You fucking bitch!”
He clumsily launched himself at her but she nimbly stepped around the couch, avoiding him. She looked at him, a smile stretching across her face.
“I hope it hurt, you son of a bitch.”
He circled the couch but she managed to stay ahead of him, keeping the piece of furniture between them. He screamed in important frustration and she laughed at him like it was the best joke she’d ever heard. Nearly blind with rage, Aaron picked up the vacuum cleaner and with a howl, hurled it at her. Elise screamed and ducked out of the way. The vacuum smashed into a wall, punching a large hole in the plaster before falling to the floor with a clatter. Elise looked at him, eyes wide and the smile gone, replaced by a look of pure terror. She turned and fled to the back bedroom, her footsteps pounding against the hardwood floor followed by the sound of the door slamming and the lock being engaged. Aaron reached up and touched the wound on his forehead, feeling slightly dizzy.
“Fucking bitch!” He screamed to the empty room.
*******
The world around him is bathed in the purple and blue hues of dusk. He cracks open a fresh bottle of beer and takes a swallow, musing on the fact that Elise had yet to make an appearance to badger him about something. Where had everything between them gone wrong? They were in love and were building a life together. They’d wanted a family and everything came with it. Or so he’d thought. Over the last year in this house, everything had suddenly changed. They were no longer husband and wife. They hadn’t shared a bed in months. They weren’t even roommates at this point. They were adversaries with little more than hostile intentions toward one another. They didn’t fight every night but it was close to it and it seemed to be getting more and more common as the days slipped by. And when they fought, they pulled out all the stops, aiming their barbs for the most sensitive and vulnerable spots. They weren’t out to wound but to kill. Where had everything gone wrong?
He feels the tears welling in his eyes.
“It’s the house, you know.”
Aaron starts, almost dropping his beer, startled by the sudden voice. He turns his head to find old Mrs. Karnecki leaning over the railing of her deck, looking straight at him.
Aaron clears his throat. “What do you mean?”
The ghost of a smile touches her lips. “I’ve been here a long time. Seen lots of families come and go. That house you’re in? It’s evil.”
“Evil?” Aaron chuckles and raises his bottle. “Sounds like you’ve had a few more of these than I have tonight.”
“I know most of you think I’m crazy,” she says. “And that’s fine. But I know what I know.”
“Okay. So what do you know then?”
“I know evil when I see it,” she says. “Something in that house of yours is hungry for human suffering and misery. Seen perfectly normal, sweet families that live there turn on one another like rabid dogs. Seen abuse from people you never would have expected it to come from.”
“Abuse?”
She nods slowly. “Yeah. In fact, the last family that lived there,” she says. “Young couple, like yourselves. Sweet kids really. So in love you could practically see the cartoon hearts floating above their heads.”
Aaron takes a long sip from his bottle, listening intently.
“Anyway, I hear them start to bicker but don’t think nothing of it,” she says. “Couples bicker, it’s life. But over the ensuing weeks and months, the bickering turns into louder arguments which turn into screaming matches. Kinda like you and your wife there.”
He felt his cheeks flush and heat rising in his face. He never considered that anybody had heard their fighting. But of course they had. It’s not like they’d been whispering.
“So one night,” she continues. “They’re in a row about something. A real good one. The young man snaps and beats his sweet bride to a pulp. Way I hear it, she was in the hospital for months trying to recover. Apparently, she still ain’t completely right to this very day.”
Aaron raises the bottle but decides against it, a slick and oily feeling pooling inside of him.
“It’s the house,” she repeated. “Or something in it anyway. Feeds on that misery. Feeds on the chaos and unhappiness. It happens without anybody ever really noticing it. One day they’re happy as can be. The next, they’re at each other’s throats. And with every family that moves in there, it seems to need more and more of it before it’s satisfied.”
The whole time she spoke, her eyes never wavered from his. Aaron felt slightly unnerved but also a sense of lightening within him. As if a door, long locked and barred had suddenly been flung wide open. Things that had been hidden in the shadows were suddenly in the spotlight and everything made sense.
“You want my advice,” she said. “You’ll take your sweet bride out of that house. Far away. Start over somewhere fresh and clean.”
Aaron nodded but remains silent, almost too stunned to speak.
“Take her out of here,” she repeated. “Don’t let that house win again.”
He barely registers her walking back into her house, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Everything she said, though it sounded so crazy, felt so right to him. It hasn’t occurred to him before but as he sits, mulling over her words, he realizes that sitting out here on the deck, he just feels different than when he’s inside the house. His mind is sharper, more focused and there isn’t the constant undercurrent of tension and anger buzzing inside of him. He just feels cleaner out here.
He drops the bottle and stands up. Mrs. Karnecki is right. They need to get out of the house and away from this place. He rushes inside and immediately feels what he hasn’t consciously felt in the year that they’d lived here; there is a heaviness in the air, a despondency and a sense of rage.
“Elise,” he calls as he rushes for the back bedrooms. “Honey, we have to get out of here.”
He pauses at the bedroom door, knocks and opens it. The room is dark as he crosses the threshold. Dark and totally silent.
“Elise,” he whispers. “Honey?”
A floorboard squeaks from the hallway behind him. Aaron turns and sees Elise standing there, her hair wildly sticking out at odd angles, dark circles beneath her eyes and a predatory smile on her face. And in her hand, she held a gun that is pointed straight at his chest. She looks almost nothing like the woman he fell in love with. His heart hammers inside of him and he feels like he’s going to throw up.
“Sweetheart, don’t,” he stammers.
“I fucking hate you,” she says.
In that instant, Aaron knows that she’s going to do it. The gun roars like a cannon and flames shoot out of the muzzle a split second before he feels like he’s been hit in the chest with a baseball bat. Time seems to slow down as he falls, landing on the wood floor with a thud but feeling nothing. Elise stands over him, the smile never faltering.
As his field of vision narrows and the darkness begins pulling him under, all he could think was that the house won again and hope that maybe this time, it would be satisfied.
This has been my entry for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidolSeason 8, Topic 26: Sated. As always, thank you for stopping by to give me a read. Your support and encouragement over all these crazy weeks means the world to me. So sincerely, thank you. Once the polls open... if they open... don't forget to swing on by, read some of the other fantastic pieces and spread a little voting-love around! Thanks, guys!!!
Aaron sits on the back deck overlooking the lake as the sun begins to slip below the horizon casting the calm water in brilliant and fiery shades of orange, red and purple. The sounds of sweeping draw his attention to the right. As always, old Mrs. Karnecki glares at him while she sweeps as if he had something do with the dirt that had accumulated on her deck.
“Good evening, Mrs. Karnecki,” Aaron calls as he raises his bottle of beer in greeting.
She gives one final, violent sweep with her broom before turning and going inside without having ever returned his greeting.
“Crazy old bat.”
He clenches his jaw and feels his stomach tighten at the sound of Elise’s car pulling to a stop in the driveway. He takes another long swallow of his beer and leans back in the chair and waits for the nightly argument. He idly wonders what it will be about this time. The front door slams shut and is followed by her footsteps crossing the hardwood floor toward the kitchen. He knows the routine so well, he predicts the moment her keys would strike the countertop with a jangle followed the soft thump of her bag. He knows that she will next grab the wine bottle from the refrigerator, pour herself a glass and drain half of it to fortify herself before coming out to fight with him about his latest transgression. Whatever it might be. That’s been the pattern nearly every day for the last two months. All they ever did anymore was fight.
Aaron takes another drink as he ponders where it had all gone sideways between him and Elise. Everything has been so great between them for so long and she’s everything he ever wanted in another person. But lately, he can’t stand the sight of her. Nor can she stand the sight of him. After they’d moved in to this, their dream home, Elise had totally changed. She wasn’t the same woman he’d fallen in love with and married. She’s become somebody else entirely.
Aaron tenses as he hears Elise’s footsteps on the floor again but he finds himself surprised. Instead of coming out to the deck, ready to fight, her footsteps fade as she walks down the hallway and away from him. Maybe she doesn’t have it in her to fight tonight. The sound of the bedroom door slamming drifts to him from the back of the house and the tension in his shoulders begin to fade.
“I wish I knew what happened to us, Elise.” Aaron drains the last of the bottle and hurls it toward the lake.
“Oh my god honey,” Elise squealed. “I love it. I absolutely love it. We have to have this one.”
Aaron smiled and put his finger to his lips to quiet her down. He didn’t want the realtor to have the advantage of knowing they really wanted the place. Elise smiled at him before going to explore house again as he stepped out on to the back deck and looked out at the lake that lay beyond. It was perfect. Too good to be true, actually. Which was something that always made him skeptical. But the price was right, the surrounding community was nearly idyllic and when the time was right and they decided to start a family, the school system was top-notch. No doubt, these were conclusions that Elise had already come to. But there was something hiding amongst the dark shadows of his mind nagging him.
“Anybody ever tell you that you think too much?” Elise slipped her arms around his waist and nuzzled his neck.
“Yeah, my wife tells me that all the time.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
Aaron turned around and pulled her to him, breathing in the scent of her skin and her hair. Maybe it was simply a case of nerves. Home ownership was a big step and a big responsibility. Ditto that on children.
“She is,” he said. “She’s much smarter than I am.”
She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. “And she’s obviously trained you very well.”
“That she has.”
The first six months in the new house had gone by in a blur of decorating, unpacking and settling in. When the dust had finally settled, Aaron and Elise were pleased with their new home. They had everything just as they liked it and it was starting to feel like home.
Aaron had the music up and was humming along with the song as he cooked. The air around him was redolent with the aroma of garlic. He’d gotten home from work early and wanted to surprise Elise by making her dinner. Her favorite meal, in fact. He’d already uncorked a bottle of wine and was busy chopping onions when he heard the front door slam shut. She was home early. He turned around with a big smile on his face when she walked into the kitchen.
“Hey honey,” he said. “How was—”
“Does the goddamn music have to be up so loud?” she barked.
The smile died on his lips. “Sorry,” he said. “I just—”
“Is a little peace and quiet at home too much to ask for?”
“Woah, babe. I was just mak—”
Elise slammed her keys and bag down on the counter, a look of fury on her face.
“You know, Aaron,” she started, her voice tight with tension. “I’m getting really tired of your inconsiderate bullshit. I work hard all day and all I want is to come home and relax. But no, I have to come home to a fucking rock concert.”
She looked at the meal he was preparing with a look of disgust. She shook her head, turned and walked out of the kitchen.
“Enjoy your dinner,” she shouted over the music. “I’m not hungry.”
A moment later, the bedroom door slammed shut leaving Aaron feeling stunned as he stood at the counter with a knife and a partially cut onion in his hand and a million questions firing through his mind.
The sound of the vacuum cleaner pulled him out of a deep sleep. He opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn’t. His head throbbed and it felt like cotton had been jammed into his mouth. He felt like he had a hangover. Looking at the array of beer bottles on the floor beside the couch where he’d fallen asleep, he knew why he felt like he had a hangover. Running his hand over his face, he sat up and looked at his watch.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mumbled.
Elise was vacuuming the carpet behind the couch, seemingly oblivious to him.
“Elise,” he shouted over the sound of the vacuum.
But she completely ignored him and continued her cleaning.
“Hey!” He shouted even louder and waved his arms.
If she saw or heard him, she gave no acknowledgement. He grumbled a string of profanities as he stood up, stumbled over his discarded bottles and made his way over to the wall socket where he ripped the plug out of the wall. The vacuum died instantly and Elise turned on him, her face a mask of rage.
“What the fuck, Aaron?”
“I’m trying to get some fucking sleep,” he shouted.
“And this house needs to be cleaned,” she screamed back. “It’s not like you’re doing anything to help me.”
“It’s six in the morning,” he yelled. “On a Saturday. Does it have to be done right this goddamned second?”
“Maybe if you got off your ass and helped out around here, it wouldn’t have to be!”
“What is your problem, Elise?”
“You are,” she screamed. “You’re my problem!”
He turned around just in time to see her launching one of his discarded beer bottles at him. He tried to move out of the way but it still managed to glance off his forehead before shattering against the wall behind him. With a shaking hand, he touched his forehead and looked at the bright crimson smears on his fingertips. He felt the rage building to a crescendo inside of him.
“You fucking bitch!”
He clumsily launched himself at her but she nimbly stepped around the couch, avoiding him. She looked at him, a smile stretching across her face.
“I hope it hurt, you son of a bitch.”
He circled the couch but she managed to stay ahead of him, keeping the piece of furniture between them. He screamed in important frustration and she laughed at him like it was the best joke she’d ever heard. Nearly blind with rage, Aaron picked up the vacuum cleaner and with a howl, hurled it at her. Elise screamed and ducked out of the way. The vacuum smashed into a wall, punching a large hole in the plaster before falling to the floor with a clatter. Elise looked at him, eyes wide and the smile gone, replaced by a look of pure terror. She turned and fled to the back bedroom, her footsteps pounding against the hardwood floor followed by the sound of the door slamming and the lock being engaged. Aaron reached up and touched the wound on his forehead, feeling slightly dizzy.
“Fucking bitch!” He screamed to the empty room.
The world around him is bathed in the purple and blue hues of dusk. He cracks open a fresh bottle of beer and takes a swallow, musing on the fact that Elise had yet to make an appearance to badger him about something. Where had everything between them gone wrong? They were in love and were building a life together. They’d wanted a family and everything came with it. Or so he’d thought. Over the last year in this house, everything had suddenly changed. They were no longer husband and wife. They hadn’t shared a bed in months. They weren’t even roommates at this point. They were adversaries with little more than hostile intentions toward one another. They didn’t fight every night but it was close to it and it seemed to be getting more and more common as the days slipped by. And when they fought, they pulled out all the stops, aiming their barbs for the most sensitive and vulnerable spots. They weren’t out to wound but to kill. Where had everything gone wrong?
He feels the tears welling in his eyes.
“It’s the house, you know.”
Aaron starts, almost dropping his beer, startled by the sudden voice. He turns his head to find old Mrs. Karnecki leaning over the railing of her deck, looking straight at him.
Aaron clears his throat. “What do you mean?”
The ghost of a smile touches her lips. “I’ve been here a long time. Seen lots of families come and go. That house you’re in? It’s evil.”
“Evil?” Aaron chuckles and raises his bottle. “Sounds like you’ve had a few more of these than I have tonight.”
“I know most of you think I’m crazy,” she says. “And that’s fine. But I know what I know.”
“Okay. So what do you know then?”
“I know evil when I see it,” she says. “Something in that house of yours is hungry for human suffering and misery. Seen perfectly normal, sweet families that live there turn on one another like rabid dogs. Seen abuse from people you never would have expected it to come from.”
“Abuse?”
She nods slowly. “Yeah. In fact, the last family that lived there,” she says. “Young couple, like yourselves. Sweet kids really. So in love you could practically see the cartoon hearts floating above their heads.”
Aaron takes a long sip from his bottle, listening intently.
“Anyway, I hear them start to bicker but don’t think nothing of it,” she says. “Couples bicker, it’s life. But over the ensuing weeks and months, the bickering turns into louder arguments which turn into screaming matches. Kinda like you and your wife there.”
He felt his cheeks flush and heat rising in his face. He never considered that anybody had heard their fighting. But of course they had. It’s not like they’d been whispering.
“So one night,” she continues. “They’re in a row about something. A real good one. The young man snaps and beats his sweet bride to a pulp. Way I hear it, she was in the hospital for months trying to recover. Apparently, she still ain’t completely right to this very day.”
Aaron raises the bottle but decides against it, a slick and oily feeling pooling inside of him.
“It’s the house,” she repeated. “Or something in it anyway. Feeds on that misery. Feeds on the chaos and unhappiness. It happens without anybody ever really noticing it. One day they’re happy as can be. The next, they’re at each other’s throats. And with every family that moves in there, it seems to need more and more of it before it’s satisfied.”
The whole time she spoke, her eyes never wavered from his. Aaron felt slightly unnerved but also a sense of lightening within him. As if a door, long locked and barred had suddenly been flung wide open. Things that had been hidden in the shadows were suddenly in the spotlight and everything made sense.
“You want my advice,” she said. “You’ll take your sweet bride out of that house. Far away. Start over somewhere fresh and clean.”
Aaron nodded but remains silent, almost too stunned to speak.
“Take her out of here,” she repeated. “Don’t let that house win again.”
He barely registers her walking back into her house, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Everything she said, though it sounded so crazy, felt so right to him. It hasn’t occurred to him before but as he sits, mulling over her words, he realizes that sitting out here on the deck, he just feels different than when he’s inside the house. His mind is sharper, more focused and there isn’t the constant undercurrent of tension and anger buzzing inside of him. He just feels cleaner out here.
He drops the bottle and stands up. Mrs. Karnecki is right. They need to get out of the house and away from this place. He rushes inside and immediately feels what he hasn’t consciously felt in the year that they’d lived here; there is a heaviness in the air, a despondency and a sense of rage.
“Elise,” he calls as he rushes for the back bedrooms. “Honey, we have to get out of here.”
He pauses at the bedroom door, knocks and opens it. The room is dark as he crosses the threshold. Dark and totally silent.
“Elise,” he whispers. “Honey?”
A floorboard squeaks from the hallway behind him. Aaron turns and sees Elise standing there, her hair wildly sticking out at odd angles, dark circles beneath her eyes and a predatory smile on her face. And in her hand, she held a gun that is pointed straight at his chest. She looks almost nothing like the woman he fell in love with. His heart hammers inside of him and he feels like he’s going to throw up.
“Sweetheart, don’t,” he stammers.
“I fucking hate you,” she says.
In that instant, Aaron knows that she’s going to do it. The gun roars like a cannon and flames shoot out of the muzzle a split second before he feels like he’s been hit in the chest with a baseball bat. Time seems to slow down as he falls, landing on the wood floor with a thud but feeling nothing. Elise stands over him, the smile never faltering.
As his field of vision narrows and the darkness begins pulling him under, all he could think was that the house won again and hope that maybe this time, it would be satisfied.
This has been my entry for
therealljidolSeason 8, Topic 26: Sated. As always, thank you for stopping by to give me a read. Your support and encouragement over all these crazy weeks means the world to me. So sincerely, thank you. Once the polls open... if they open... don't forget to swing on by, read some of the other fantastic pieces and spread a little voting-love around! Thanks, guys!!!
