Love garden

Awake

Alison jolted awake. The sheets had been thrown on the floor because of her tossing and turning. She checked the time. The clock above her bed read 03:30. "Why can't I sleep..." Alison questioned, with a puzzled yet exhausted look on her face. She yanked the sheets back into the bed, in an attempt to go back to sleep. She sat there, restless. The scene playing back in her mind on repeat. She grabbed her shoes from next to the door and stepped outside for a cigarette. She peeked down the path and nobody was there. So she stepped out and grabbed her lighter and cigarettes from the window ledge. As she lit her cigarette, she noticed that the lamp on Charles's window ledge was on. Then, the click of a lock. His door slowly creaked open, and he stepped out onto the path, leaning onto the railing that lined the parking lot. Alison quickly moved to turn away, hoping that he would not recognise her. She threw her hood up, stumped out her cigarette and turned to head inside when she heard a voice. "Alison... is that you?"
Charles questioned.

shit
Shit
SHIT
Alison froze, "quick, what do I say" she said to herself in her head. She turned to face him. "Charles? What on earth are you doing here?"
Alison replied, acting as if she wasn't aware of his presence. "I could ask you the same thing" Charles replied, with a smirk on his face. Alison slowly approached him. "I asked first" Alison replied, lighting another cigarette. "Me and Nancy got into a fight... She has been sleeping with her assistant" he replied, with a look of relief that he could talk to someone about it. "What? Oh dear lord, I would have never expected anything of the sort, I mean, I have heard the rumours. But, Nancy just seems so sweet, so innocent. You would never expect something like that from such a respected member of the community" she replied, with a sarcastic tone. "Now you" Charles demanded.

Fuck.
"Well... I..." Nancy stumbled to find an excuse. "I just couldn't be around it anymore". "Around what" Charles asked, confused. Alison sighed, she needed a good cover story. "The house just has so many photos of me and David, of the time when we were happy, before the arguments started, before I could even think of asking for a divorce. I just couldn't bring myself to take them down. They just represent such a happy time in our lives, a time that we were free of stress" she began to cry, crocodile tears of course. She never gave two fucks about David. For her marrying David was just a financial choice, not a thing of love. Also, to shut her parents up. They constantly nagged her about getting married, settling down, having a large family with a nice home. But, she didn't want that. She wanted to travel the world, visiting Japan, Spain, Australia, India. They stopped her from doing that. Forcing her onto dates with the sons of snobby assholes from their country club in Florida. But, they died in London in a round of bombs in WW2 after deciding to visit on holiday. Right place, right time. Thanks Germany. One less burden for her.

"I get that" Charles said. "When I found out about Nancy's affair, i just couldn't be around it, anything that reminded me of her. The photos of our wedding day that decorated the walls, picnics in the mountains, sharing moments with the kids. The more I looked at the photos, the more I saw how fake everything was. But me being as smart as I evidently am, grabbed Nancy's car keys instead of mine, so now I have her car" he said, pointing at a forest green jaguar that was sitting in the back of the parking lot. "Wow, you really did spoil her rotten" Alison replied. Charles let out a little chuckle. "I just didn't expect it... I married her, pushing and pushing the idea that the rumours weren't true. That she was so perfect. That someone had made up those rumours to tear our marriage apart. But, I guess it was all a lie. The happiness, the laughter, the smiles, our vows. All of it. Down to the last shred. She lied to me, for so many years and I just don't know what to do" Charles explained. Alison paused. "Well, if you need me to take the girls for a few days, I would be happy to, do you can sort out everything with Nancy " She grabbed the ashtray from Charles's window ledge and stubbed out her cigarette. "I'm going to head back to bed. I will probably be home by noon so if things get heated at home, whenever you return, feel free to bring the girls over" She sighed and walked away, opening the door to her hotel room and closing it behind her. She removed her coat, slinging it on the dressing table, kicking her shoes off and throwing herself onto the bed, pulling the sheets over her head.

Charles looked out, leaning over the railing. He snatched the ashtray, clenching it in his fist, tears rolling down his eyes. He threw the ashtray over the railing. It hit the floor, shattering. Alerting Alison. She grabbed her shoes, not even thinking about her coat. She yanked the door open to find Charles in a ball, leaning his back against the railing, crying. Alison dropped to the floor, in an attempt to comfort him, watching the tears roll down his eyes. She grabbed the room keys that were clenched in his other hand, noticing that they had been gripped so tight that his hand had began to bleed. She pushed the door open, and helped Charles up off of the floor, escorting him to his bed. "Shhh" she said, alerted by the situation with little knowledge of how to react. She left him on the bed to grab some tissue to clean his hand, but by the time she had returned, she found him spread out on the bed, fast asleep. She wrapped his hand gently in some tissue to absorb the blood that covered his hand. As she was leaving the room, she noticed a chair in the corner of the room, facing the bed. Alison paused, contemplating her choices.

She slowly crept over to the corner of the room.
Sat and watched as he tossed and turned.
Admiring his every move.

The clock struck 06:00. Alison jolted awake, as she heard the clock, noticing that Charles was beginning to stir. She jumped up, creeping across the room, grabbing her shoes and running down the path, back to her own room.

She slowly drifted off to sleep.