For Mark, a hard-working office worker who took great satisfaction in supporting his family, it was just another day at work. In an attempt to surprise his wife Lisa with some time alone before their son Johnny came home from school, he had left work early. He grinned to himself as he pulled into their cute suburban driveway, picturing her reaction when she saw him arrive home earlier than normal.
Mark felt a strange feeling as soon as he pushed open the front door. It was too quiet in the house. Lisa would typically be in the kitchen or kicking back in the living room at this time, maybe watching one of her favorite shows. However, she was nowhere to be found today.
He heard some faint sounds coming from their bedroom as he was moving upstairs. His heart skipped a beat, but he ignored it. “Perhaps she’s napping,” he surmised. However, as he drew nearer, the sounds increasingly alarmed him. Instead than being the quiet noises of someone sleeping, they were more intense, erratic, and resembled gasps for breath.
Mark ran to the bedroom and threw open the door, his eyes bulging at what he saw. Lisa was sprawled out on the bed, her chest heaving as though she was having trouble breathing. She had a flush and her forehead was glistening with sweatdrops.
“What are you doing?” Mark enquired, his voice full of worry as his mind tried to make sense of what was happening.
Lisa’s breath froze in her throat as her eyes darted erratically. She hesitated, trying desperately to come up with an answer. “Err… I… um…” Her voice was tremulous and unconvincing when she eventually shouted, “I think I’m having a heart attack!”
A beat skipped in Mark’s heart. Was Lisa, his wife, suffering a heart attack? Panic took hold of him. He didn’t even pause to ask her more questions before launching into action. “Oh my God!” he cried out, his voice faltering. “Don’t worry, an ambulance will be called!”
His thoughts racing, he dashed from the room and down the stairs. His heart was thumping in his ears as he reached for the phone and started dialing 911. But before he could press the phone button, he heard a quiet, weeping voice from behind him.
Turning back, Mark saw little Johnny with tears flowing down his helpless face as he stood at the foot of the stairway. Sniffling between cries, his tiny body trembled as he held onto his favorite stuffed animal.
“Son, what’s the deal?” Mark knelt down to ask, his voice growing softer with concern. He turned his attention to his distraught child, and for a minute the seriousness of the situation upstairs vanished.
“Daddy, Uncle James is in the closet with no clothes on,” Johnny choked out over his cries.
Mark’s entire universe came to an end. Time seems to stop. Like an anvil waiting to fall, the weight of Johnny’s words hovered in the atmosphere. In an instant, confusion gave way to rage, and he became extremely angry. His thoughts raced as he tried to piece together the strange scene upstairs, the erratic noises, and his wife’s weak justification. The assault of the heart? The gasping? All of it was no longer added up.
With newfound resolve, Mark roared, “Stay here, Johnny,” and got to his feet.
His steps felt heavier than the last as he stormed back upstairs, his rage fueling him. The sounds of his wife panting came back to him, but this time they carried a new significance that made him feel betrayed. When he arrived in the bedroom, he strode directly into the closet. With a force that shook the entire frame, he threw open the door without hesitation.
There stood his brother Jim, ghostly pale and bare-chested, hiding in the small area.
“You idiot!” Mark bellowed, his tone roiled with rage and incredulity. “You’re running around naked scaring Johnny, and my wife is over there having a heart attack?”
Jim seemed to be attempting to will himself out of existence as he stood still, wide-eyed, and mute. He attempted to hide himself with his hands, but it was too late. What Mark had just walked in on could not be justified by any explanation or justification.
Lisa quickly covered herself, remained laying on the bed, her cheeks flushed not with fright but with humiliation. Her lips dropped open, ready to utter something, but nothing came out. Tension was heavy in the air in the room.
As Mark saw the full extent of the situation, he stood there, his chest heaving. His wife was having an affair; she wasn’t experiencing a heart attack. It had been his brother, his own brother, who had been the cowardly one cowering in the closet.
There was an unbearable quiet. A flood of betrayal, rage, and humiliation slammed over Mark, clenching his hands.
Struggling to find the right words, Jim fumbled. “I-I can explain,” he started, but the expression on Mark’s face instantly cut him off.
“Leave,” Mark commanded, his voice low and tremulous with barely suppressed fury. “You two together. Leave my home now.
“Mark, please, it’s not what it looks like,” Lisa began to beg.
Mark, though, had had enough. He approached the door and held it open with a stern determination. Without saying anything further, Jim scurried to get his clothing and quickly left, not making eye contact. Lisa stood there, her guilt hanging in the air, tears flowing down her face.
Mark was too overcome with the pain of betrayal to think rationally, so he didn’t even look at her as she went past. It had just broken his whole universe.
Mark took a seat on the bed’s edge and buried his head in his hands as the door shut behind them. He heard his son’s quiet, disoriented voice calling out to him from downstairs.
“Daddy? Has Uncle James left?
Mark dabbed at his face, attempting to compose himself. With a sad heart, he took a deep breath and headed downstairs. “Yes, my friend,” he said, encircling Johnny in an embrace. “Uncle James has left us.”
