Chapter 3
The Gift One week after the bus, Mark was waiting in the hallway when I came home.
That alone was strange.
He had shaved.
His hair was combed.
He wore a blue shirt I had never seen before, still stiff from the store.
And he smelled like too much cologne.
“Soph,” he said. I froze.
He had not called me that in months
“What’s going on?” His smile widened.
“I got you something.”
From behind his back, he pulled out a dark velvet box.
My stomach tightened before I understood why.
The old woman’s voice moved through my mind like a match striking.
When your husband gives you a necklace…
Mark opened the box. Inside was a gold necklace.
Delicate. Beautiful. A thin chain with a tiny oval pendant. Expensive-looking. Too expensive. “Mark,” I said carefully.
“How did you pay for this?” He laughed too quickly.
“Can’t a man buy his wife something nice?”
The clasp was thicker than it should have been.
Not obvious. Not ugly. Just wrong.
“Put it on,” he said. My fingers went cold. “Now?” “Yeah. I want to see it on you.” His eyes were bright. Too bright. I smiled
. “I’m exhausted. I’ll wear it tomorrow.”
His face changed. Only for half a second. But I saw it. Disappointment. Anger.
Then the mask returned. “Sure,” he said. “Tomorrow.” That night, I waited until he went back to the spare room. The keys clicked. The screen glowed. His chair creaked once.
Then again. I stood in the kitchen, holding the necklace in my palm.
It felt heavier than it looked. I filled a thick drinking glass with water.
Lowered the necklace inside.
Covered the glass with a saucer.
May you like
Then hid it in the bottom kitchen drawer behind an old enamel pot Mark never touched.
After that, I went to bed beside my husband. And did not sleep.
