Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Tyler Mulvaine was a name that had come up frequently, there was an air of suspicion around him at the office. He had been a client at one time, but was now too often associated with people making injury claims for it to be a coincidence. This was an issue for the fraud department and not Phillip Church, nevertheless Phillip wanted to appear as a guy who "takes the reins" a man who "gets things done" and so continued to frustrate everyone else in the office about it on an almost hourly basis.
'So have you heard anything about the Cavendish claim yet, that's what I'm asking Mark?' Phillip was becoming frustrated with me.
'Why would I?'
'Because Steven Cavendish is Mulvaine's son in law, that's what I'm saying!'
'Yeah, I get it Phillip. But I forwarded it on to the investigation department, there was a flag on his account anyway at that point. You haven't discovered anything. It's out of our hands now, why would the fraud department be giving me updates on suspicious cases!'
'I opened his account Mark, I just want to see that it's dealt with. I don't want my record tarnished by some cheating fraudster.'
'How were you supposed to know Phil!' I hadn't intended to raise my voice to such an extent. Everyone in the office was now looking in our direction as Phillip stood before me with a grave expression on his face. The rest of the day continued without incident and Phillip spent the remaining hours sulking quietly at his desk.
When I arrived home Laura was in a jolly mood. The atmosphere was far lighter than the previous weekend, where things had turned sour at first and then only grown more unpleasant. We ate, we talked, I made jokes, she laughed and little by little I could feel the oppressive tension, that had been growing as of late, start to lift. The evening seemed to have more hours in it than normal, we drank wine, everything felt fresher, moving to the bedroom happened with ease. We made love.
In the calm and quiet stillness that followed, she rolled onto her side and faced me. I stared up at the ceiling, a feeling of serenity radiating gently through me. She spoke softly, comfortingly.
'Honey...' she whispered, 'have you made an appointment with the doctor?' I looked at her, she looked upset. I felt the lightness of the evening dissipating in a sudden rush. I could feel a pressure building in me. The air in the room began to feel like syrup, it was harder to breathe and every movement felt more sluggish. She could sense the shift in me, she placed her hand gently upon my chest as a way to comfort me. It felt as heavy as a block of concrete, it was crushing me and expelling syrupy breaths from my straining lungs. I lay there in perfect stillness for what felt like an eternity.
The next day I felt timid, scarcely glancing in anyone's direction and jumping at any loud noises. As much as possible I avoided speaking to anyone at work. Occasionally Phillip would glare across at me venomously, I would only shrink from his gaze pathetically. The day passed with a painful lack of momentum, eventually I was on the drive home and longed to see Laura.
The house was empty when I arrived. I went straight out to the back garden, with Laura not home I could quickly apply some weed killer to the lawn without being judged. She would be none the wiser. As I looked across the surface of my manicured lawn, I couldn't help but feel stress relentlessly welling up inside me. For a change there was scarcely a single stick scattered on the ground, however, now what was there instead was a terrible little mound of sticks, they had been collected into a small pile over on the right hand side. I walked over to it angrily. I stood there for some time in a state of frustrated confusion. I couldn't take my eyes from the little pile of sticks, I was mesmerised by it and frightened by it, and now thought something very strange was going on. Something about that little pile seemed to radiate with such potent and intense malice. After studying it for a while I used my foot to tease apart the pile of sticks, inside I found a frenzy of ants surrounding a withered earthworm.
'Is this just a natural phenomenon? How on earth could it be?' I thought, as I scrutinised the collection of sticks.
'What are you doing Mark!' Laura shouted, startling me. I didn't know how long she had been there watching me. I was unsure how long I had been standing there. So she certainly must've seen me standing in the middle of the lawn and staring at the floor. Judging from her tone of voice she'd probably been watching me for some time. I was trying to explain myself but she treated me as though I was behaving bizarrely, and she didn't want to hear my explanations. She bustled about the place as though trying to distract herself, whilst repeatedly accusing me of being "obsessed." I sat down feeling deflated and hurt, her earlier words repeatedly running through my mind.
