The Commute

Ms. Wardle said she would make her boyfriend by the pizza for her.

The day was coming to a close as she battled the evening rush hour. There weren't many things to do for the rest of the day other than sleep and eat. Beth Wardle would do the sleeping and the eating with the assist from her boyfriend. She called him to inform him of his duties that he would be expected to perform but rather than him answering the phone at her home, her sister did.

Her sister visited frequently so it was no surprise that she answered her phone, in fact, Ms. Wardle would have preferred to have her sister deliver the news rather than herself. Before ending the call Beth jokingly told her sister that they should to have sex so a child could be conceived using a majority of the same genes. Beth was unable to bear another child but yearned for another. She turned off the phone and continued the journey home.

She laughed to herself as she sat on the highway. Her joke had been a hit with both her boyfriend and her sister. They had always found ways of amusing one another, and that is what kept their relationship so fresh. They laughed at this joke just as they had laughed at all of her others. This one even more so than the others. Maybe a little too much in fact.

Could they have been forcing those laughs because Beth had said something that rang too close to comfort for them? Had an affair been going on behind her back this whole time? Her sister was closer than anyone else besides herself. In fact, Beth's sister often reminded her that it was his birthday and she needed to obtain a present for him. Her sister must have planned this. She gave Beth little notice of the birthday so she had to scramble to give a good gift. Beth's feelings were constantly hurt when he used her sister's gift, an IPOD, more often than her own, a copy of the book Love Me or I'll Kill You. He'd always been a fan of the true crime section, so why did this book not entertain him in the way all the other true crime books did?

Beth picked the phone back up and called the house again. Her boyfriend answered this time sounding distant, like his mind was elsewhere.
“I was joking you know!”
“What?”
“The two of you better not be having sex!”
“What? What are you talking about? Crazy.”
“Am I?”
With that she hung up the phone and picked up the speed in her car, weaving in and out of traffic. She was going to get there and catch them in the act. Beth's mission had never been more clear in her life. This must be the reason that her sister always enjoyed showing Beth's baby picture to everyone. She knew Beth hated it. Her mother had left her hair undone and let her rub all over her face to create a monstrous looking child. Her mother must have been in on it too! All of these facts were coming together and Beth felt like an animal in a cage waiting to be unleashed.

Beth pulled up to the house and stormed to the door. Throwing it open so hard that the springs nearly maxed themselves out. When she stepped inside her boyfriend and sister were playing Mario. She walked over to her boyfriend and proclaimed “I knew it!” as she slapped him across the face.