“No,” Brittany said, her eyes wide.
“Did I do something wrong, Mark?”
45
“I remembered what you said. I would never talk to Amy. I swear.”
Mark stared at her.
How could he have ever thought Brittany was
anything like Amy?
Amy would never act like this.
She would never drug him or be so cheap.
Amy was the moon.
<
Brittany was just garbage.
Mark was done.
“You need to trust me, Mark,” Brittany said,
tears streaming down her face.
Mark slapped her hard.
“You’re a liar. You think I can’t see anything?
u were messing with Amy.”
think you’re good enough to be Mrs.
ark?”
“I’m telling you, only Amy can be my wife. Only
she deserves it.”
“You’re garbage. What makes you special?
You’re trash.”
“Give me back Amy,” he said.
“Give her back.”
He kicked Brittany.
His eyes were red with rage.
If Brittany hadn’t gone to see Amy, Amy
wouldn’t have known.
She wouldn’t have cried and ended up in the
emergency room.
It was all Brittany’s fault.
Brittany screamed in pain.
Mark was using all his strength.
She cried for him to stop.
“Mark, please stop! I’m pregnant with your
baby!”
く
That made Mark even angrier.
He stomped on Brittany’s stomach.
“Baby?” he yelled.
“You don’t deserve to have my baby.”
“That thing should be dead.”
He started stomping.
Blood spread across the room.
Brittany screamed.
Someone rushed in and saw Brittany lying in a
pool of blood.
Mark ran to the bridge and forced the captain
to turn around.
The cruise ship sped back to land.
<
Mark thought that maybe Amy had gone home
because she was upset.
She wouldn’t really leave him.
They had been together for twenty years.
Mark rushed home and was relieved to see that
nothing had changed.
Amy hadn’t left.
Then he noticed the closet was almost empty.
Her things were gone.
The fear came back.
He looked at the wedding picture on the wall.
It was just him.
<
He collapsed.
On the cruise ship, he had been able to hold on
to some hope.
Now, he was devastated.
Amy didn’t want him anymore.
Three years later, I returned home after I got my
design degree.
I went to a design competition.
The competition was in New York City.
I hadn’t been back in three years.
I had thought that I would never see Mark
again.
But we met again faster than I thought.
<
He was a judge at the competition.
I presented my designs.
I was so nervous.
His eyes followed my every move.
When the competition was over, I tried to avoid
him.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the
stairwell.
Then he trapped me.
Mark put his hands on the wall.
He was red–eyed.
His face was twitching.
く
8:12
“Amy,” he said.
((
45
“You came back. I’ve been looking for you for
three years.”
“Don’t you care about me?”
“You didn’t call me once. Do you know how
much I miss you?”
He buried his face in my neck and started to cry.
“I know I messed up,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting too long.”
