After buying the medicine, I asked the pharmacist a few more questions about managing my headaches. By the time I stepped out of the pharmacy, it had started to rain, and the downpour only showed signs of getting heavier. I huddled under the awning, hoping to wait it out and catch a cab home.
Instead, the storm raged from ten in the morning until ten at night, with no end in sight. The city’s drainage system practically collapsed. Taxis stopped running, and buses were stranded. The floodwaters rose higher and higher, swallowing the streets until the water reached my calves. My skirt was completely soaked, and the freezing cold seeped into my abdomen, making my surgical wounds ache sharply.
I sent James a text:
[Where are you? Can you take me home?]
[The flooding out here is really deep.]
The messages vanished into the void. I called him nearly twenty times. He didn’t pick up a single one.
Gritting my teeth, I waded into the freezing water, slowly trudging in the direction of our apartment. Suddenly, my foot slipped—an open manhole.
Splash—
Foul water instantly swallowed me over my head. I thrashed in the dark, my head bobbing above and below the surface, until a hand suddenly grabbed me and hauled me out. If it weren’t for her, I really might have died in that sewer.
The girl pulled me onto her inflatable raft. “Where do you live? I’ll take you back,” she offered.
It was the dead of night by the time I finally reached the apartment. Enduring the double agony of my splitting headache and throbbing abdomen, I took a hot shower and immediately passed out on the rug.
When I woke up, it was 2:00 AM. The rain had stopped outside, but two distinct voices laughing in the hallway cut through the quiet.
“I carried you the entire way, you’re going to kill me,” James’s voice teased. “Hurry up and get down.”
Chloe giggled coquettishly. “No! I want you to carry me forever!”
The front door opened, and the lights flicked on. James kicked his muddy shoes outside; even with his pants rolled up high, they were still completely drenched. Chloe, however, was spotless and dry. They naturally and intimately shared a single towel to wipe their faces, completely failing to notice me sitting in the living room.
“It drizzled a bit, are you still wet?” James asked, pulling her close to check. “Hold on, let me find you a dress.”
He walked into the master bedroom and came out holding an armful of my clothes. “These are Emily’s. Pick whatever you like.”
James knew perfectly well how much I hated people touching my things.
Chloe immediately plucked out the red dress. “I want this one!”
It was the dress James had bought me for our wedding anniversary. I hadn’t even brought myself to wear it yet, and here he was, generously offering it up for her to play dress-up in.
“Tonight was so much fun!” Chloe chirped like a happy little bird. Looking at her, I couldn’t help but see my past self. The only difference was the response we received. James listened to her with a fond smile, unwilling to interrupt, acting as if missing a single word would be a tragedy.
“Can you two keep it down?” I said, playing the killjoy this time.
They both went dead silent. After a long pause, James finally offered an excuse, claiming Chloe’s ground-floor apartment was in danger of flooding, so he brought her here.
I didn’t reply. I just walked straight into my bedroom.
I slept terribly that night. The two of them stayed up until dawn, chatting and laughing outside my door.
The next morning, James and Chloe ate breakfast together and got ready to leave.
“Honey, I’m going to drop Chloe off at home first,” James said. “I’ll come back and take you to work. Wait for me.”
I was never going to wait for James again.
I packed my luggage, finally signed the divorce papers I had printed ages ago but never had the courage to use, and left them on the dining table, pressed down beneath my abortion discharge summary.
James would see it the second he came back.
I took a cab to the airport, went through security, and boarded my flight. Over the intercom, the flight attendant reminded passengers to switch their devices to airplane mode.
I pulled out my phone, just about to turn it off, when a tidal wave of messages exploded onto my screen.
