The Virus

My name is Jennifer Small. I am almost 24 years old. For the past three days my husband has been different. People think I'm crazy but I know that Harry is different. He is so cheery. Usually he is in a pretty good mood but it's worse. He is always laughing and he has this creepy smile on his face. I think I might say something to Chris from work. He needs me to come in early anyways.

Now I am sure that Harry is different. When I woke up, he was outside digging through the backyard. I can only assume he was attempting to start a garden. He has never gardened a day in his life. I decided that I would bring it up to Chris today. When I arrived at work it wasn't difficult to find him, as I saw him in the hall almost immediately. I felt as if everyone was staring at me so I asked him if I could speak to him privately. He sounded a little worried but agreed to meet me for dinner at my house. That day went by fairly fast, though it was a little weirder than most. It might sound like paranoia but I swear to you everyone was watching me. At any given time I could look around and see at minimum, three people eyeing me down.

Around six o'clock that evening Chris knocked on my door. Harry had decided to stay late for work. As a result he wasn't in the house and wouldn't be for a few hours. I confided my fears to Chris and tried my best to not seem crazy.

"He is different, I swear he is. I'm not crazy. It's like he is just so overly happy all the time. In an unnatural way." I looked up from my plate of food to meet Chris's worried gaze.

"Are you sure he isn't just happy about something?" He tilted his head slightly when looked at me.

"You think I'm crazy." I looked back down at my plate contemplating. Maybe I was crazy.

"No. I don't think you're crazy Jen." he reached over and grabbed my hand. Normally this would be weird, a boss grabbing another coworkers hand, but we had always been close friends. Which is why I trusted him with my worries.

"Nothing has happened. The Harry I knew would tell me if something that big had happened. That isn't harry" I looked back up at him searching his face for a reaction.

"Could he be seeing someone else?" he looked at me with his sad brown eyes. Noticing my face change he spoke again, "No of course not. He wouldn't cheat on you."

I started to tear up before I spoke again, "I don't know what to do Chris."

"Maybe you should speak to my friend Michael." He grasped my hand tighter.

"The therapist, really? You think I'm crazy!" We laughed together for a second.

"No. No. Jen, I'm just saying he is a good listener, and he put things into perspective."

"Chris you think I am crazy. Just admit it."

"Jen you are not crazy, I believe you. I'm just saying maybe he would be able figure out if there is something else going on in Harry's life, or if you're right and he is just simply different. Look just take my word for it, and at least think about if you'll see him?" This time he tilted his head in the other direction.

"I don't know." I pulled my hand away and put both if them in my lap. Looking down at my hands, I thought about it, "Maybe."

"I don't think you're crazy. I've known you for a while, you're not crazy Jennifer." Chris seemed to notice the worry in my face as he spoke. "You're not crazy."

I went to bed that night and replayed our conversation over in my head. I thought about when I had noticed the change in Harry. Maybe something else had happened. Harry lay in bed next to me, not even a foot away, and I still felt as though I wasn't lying next to my husband. It was at that moment that I had decided I was not crazy. I thought about that thing that people say, if you think you're going crazy then you're not actually crazy. Either way I needed to get to the bottom of this.