Page 88 of XO

~

Unlike only a few hours earlier, the house is locked up, the front door is going unanswered despite the banging. The windows I peer through are void of life. I call out to him, but there’s nothing. Skirting around the house, I search for a window to break. I see it from the corner of my eye, through the garage side window, and I still, my heart pounding as I weigh up whether my mind is playing tricks. My hand starts a nervous, involuntary tap on my leg, and I’d give anything to reset the last few hours.

“No…” I murmur, squeezing my eyes closed and wishing it isn’t true.

Slowly, I turn slowly, already knowing the sight awaiting me, and I’m fucking petrified.

I see him, and my world collapses.

“Fuck, no!” I yell frantically pounding on the glass until the entire pane pops out and shatters on the garage floor. “No. No. No. Nooo.”

I’m too late.

Mr. Reign’s body hangs perfectly still from the belt around his neck. A chair he’s kicked out from beneath him lays haphazardly on the floor. The belt—his noose—is attached to the garage door slider track.

Crawling through the window, I fall in a heap, scrambling to reach the upturned chair so I can hold Mr. Reign’s weight. I wrap my arms around his waist and lift him, hoping he’ll cough back to life. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t make a sound. I have no idea how long he’s been here or if my efforts are futile. But I do know I can’t leave Rosie’s father hanging from his own belt. Sobbing and pleading for him to be okay, I spot a hand saw attached to a nail on the wall among the other tools.

“I’m sorry,” I plead as if he can hear me. I’m torn between staying holding him up and waiting for help, or letting him go so I can get the handsaw. If he has any life left in him, I could take it away by leaving him. But I don’t know if anyone is coming to help. “I’m sorry, Mr. Reign,” I say again, carefully releasing him and running to the handsaw. On return, I wrap an arm around his waist to alleviate the pressure and saw through the leather belt.

His body awkwardly falls into mine, and I sink to the floor while loosening his noose.

“John?” I call, slapping his face and placing my ear next to his mouth.

Nothing.

“Mr. Reign, wake the fuck up. Please, wake up,” I beg, my tears falling on his cheeks. “Help!” I yell. “Somebody, please help us.”

I start compressions, but when his lips turn a dark blue, I rest my head on his chest and sob, taking his cold hand in mine. “Mr. Reign, wake up. You can’t do this to Rosie. You need to wake up. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry, I should never have told you.”

I don’t know how long we stay like that. I don’t know how many tears I shed for the man, or how many times I pleaded with him to wake up.

A thumping on the door brings me back to earth, the voice calling me to action. “Police, open up.”

“I’m in here,” I call back. “I’m in the garage.” Standing, I press the internal button, and the door slides open, bright sunlight blinding me as I wipe away the tears.

Then everything moves in a blur, the police officers attending to the body immediately declaring his death. They ask me questions, and I must answer them because they don’t press any further, and a blanket is wrapped around my shoulders.

Paramedics arrive a short while later, and I’m still standing in the same spot refusing to leave Mr. Reign’s side because he died the loneliest death imaginable, and I can’t bring myself to leave him now.

~

“Jacob?” comes a familiar voice. “What are you doing here? What the hell is going on?”

I turn to Mrs. Reign, who’s yet to see her dead husband under the sheet.

“Where were you?” I ask coldly. “I tried calling.”

“What?” She seems put out by my questions, her eyes flicking between the officers and me.

“Are you Amanda Reign?” the female officer asks.

“Yes. What’s going on?”

“Your husband took his own life,” I say before the officer can break it to her delicately.

For a moment, she seems stricken, but it’s only fleeting. “John?” Pushing through the police and paramedics, she falls to her knees and pulls back the sheet.

And even for someone having an affair, she still surprises the fuck out of me.

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