13elieve (Short story collection)

The "Perfect" Couple

"If I could do it over again, I would." Cadell constantly thought to himself. It seemed like only yesterday, when Cadell married the love of his wife, Amei. Six years later, Cadell still had a clear picture of that night. "Do you, Cadell Durmer, take Amei Vic Gronft as your lawfully wedded wife?" he remembered the pastor saying. With Cadell being 28, and Amei being 25 when they got married, some people thought that they were too young, but they knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. They started dating when Cadell was 22, and everyone thought of them as being the perfect couple. They never fought, and anyone that saw them, could see the love in their eyes. Everything was going perfectly for the two of them, until one day, when Amei was out with her friend, Emily.

The two were out talking and shopping, like best friends did. They were talking about a bunch of different things and it was all useless gossip, until Emily brought up Cadell. Emily told Amei that she thought she saw Cadell at La Maison Couché, a fancy restaurant in town. Amei was a little nervous about this, because they never hid secrets from each other, but Cadell never told her about going there.

"There's more," Emily said, "I saw him eating with another woman, and they kissed."

Amei's face went from shocked, to pure anger, and she stormed out of the store.

"Wait! I am not entirely sure it was Cadell at the restaurant." Emily tried to tell Amei, but Amei couldn't hear her.

"Why did you never tell me about her?" Amei asked bursting into the house.

"Tell you about who?" asked Cadell, very confused.

"I know you're cheating on me!" shouted Amei.

"What? Why would I do that?" asked Cadell.

"Because you're a filthy pig!" shouted Amei.

"I did not cheat on you!" shouted Cadell, starting to get angry with her.

"My friend saw you at La Maison Couché kissing another woman." Amei said, starting to calm down.

"First," said Cadell, "I hate La Maison Couché, and second, you are the only woman that I love."

"I guess I did kind of jump to conclusions." Amei said, acting calmer, but still believing that he cheated on her.

From this point on, Amei and Cadell were no longer the ideal couple. Amei became very paranoid, and if Cadell was five minutes late, Amei assumed it was the other woman, and started an argument with Cadell. This constant bickering not only caused a lot of tension between the two of them, but also caused their love to diminish. They went from always wanting to see each other, to wanting nothing to do with one another. They even brought up the idea of divorce, and Amei would say things like, "Why don't you divorce me, marry the other woman, and then cheat on her too." Cadell got tired of telling Amei that there was no other woman, and eventually the two of them stopped talking to each other. This lasted for about two weeks, until one night, when Cadell had to work late. He called Amei to let her know, but she hung up on him, without saying anything. She knew that's what people said when they were having an affair, and she was done with him. She waited for Cadell to get home, and boy was she angry.

"If you love her, just pack your bags and go," said Amei angrily.

"Shut up." said Cadell, having enough of Amei's attitude.

"Excuse me!" shouted Amei, but Cadell ignored her and just walked away. "Sometimes I wish we never had met." Amei said, instigating Cadell. This got Cadell to stop walking. "I mean, there are plenty of other fish in the sea." Amei said, knowing it was instigating Cadell.

"Yeah," Cadell said, "but none of them would have put up with your psycho behavior for as long as I have."

"You think cheating on me is something that you have to put up with?!" asked Amei annoyed.

"I did not cheat on you! What I did do, was work, so you could have a nice place to live, where you spend all day, except when you go out and spend all my money!" shouted Cadell. Cadell started to walk away, but Amei picked up a coffee mug from the table, and threw it at him. The mug broke and caused Cadell's arm to bleed. "Why did I ever love you?" asked Cadell disappointedly, as he picked up the pieces of the mug. Amei ran over to him, and was going to attack him. In self-defense, Cadell pushed Amei and she fell over the couch.

Cadell looked over the couch, to make sure Amei was okay, but Amei grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him over the couch as well. Cadell was still bleeding, but instead of checking on him, Amei decided to kick him in the head, and make him bleed there as well. Cadell had to grab her feet to stop her from kicking him, but Amei still tried to kick him. Cadell managed to stand up, let go of Amei's legs, and run to the front door. Amei chased him to the door, and Cadell managed to quickly get out of the way, and Amei ran full speed into the door, face first. Unsure if she was okay, Cadell called an ambulance, where he found out he had a broken arm, and needed stitches in his head, and where Amei was pronounced dead.