1 Break Down

"..." a middle-aged man lay in the cold snow, blood dripping from his chest as something had stabbed into his chest. his eyes were blank, although he was alive, his eyes didn't seem to hold any life.

his eyes slowly grew heavy as his life flashed before him, and memories of the past were remembered. this man was James, 6 months ago, he was not like this. he was but a happy man who was living his dream life along with his wife.

yet, 6 months ago. his wife slowly began to crumble as his perfect life fell apart. his wife started to get distant and confused at first, but he soon began picking up signs that she was cheating on him. she began staying at work later than normal, on her phone for longer times, and smiling to herself from time to time. she came guarded of her phone,

as time went by, he began to realize what was happening. when she was asleep, he went through her phone, only to see how she was texting her boss nudes and all kinds of stuff. when he saw this, something inside of him shattered.

this woman was his world, he builds a life around her, she helped him out of a dark point in time and put him straight. he was a troubled kid before he meant her, she was the person who reached out to him, and saved him. thought high school they were always together, hell they got engaged in high school. it was like a story out of a fairy tale,

but seeing the texts and how happy she was the past few days while with another man, lying to him while pushing him away... he broke. he sent himself a screenshot of these messages and just left, he went downstairs and grabbed himself an alcohol bottle and went outside and simply walked while drinking lost in his thoughts.

he didn't live too far from a bridge, which he walked to and just drink from the bottle while looking at the sea. as he looked at the sea, he slowly began crying, this hurt. he built his life around this woman; she was everything to him. he had many friends come and go, yet through it all, she stayed strong by his side, like a pillar that held up his world.

she was more than a wife, but his best friend, but this betrayer came out of nowhere and hit him hard.

he stayed there for the whole night and even slept there, he didn't want to go home, but he was awakened by the cars driving by. having nowhere else to go, he returned home. he looked at his phone and saw his wife had been calling him none stop, this only made him angrier,

upon arriving home, she opened the door for him. she didn't sleep when upon waking up and found he had suddenly disappeared, yet his car was there,

"Where were you? you can't just up and disappear without warning... look you, you're a complete mess, were you sleeping on the ground or something?" She asked with a deep frown at how dirty he looked, but her words caught in her throat when she saw James' cold and emotionless eyes, it was like James was looking at a stranger.

it was nothing like the way he used to look at her, it was like he was looking at a stranger, She wanted to say something but James just walked past her and went upstairs, she stood there frozen for a moment before running after him.

"what's wrong?" She asked. she had been with this man for more than half her life, and she of course wanted to get to the bottom of this. yet James ignored her as he went on to find himself a devoured layer. her heart dropped seeing what he was doing, it was like the world just froze

"... I will be moving out, I will be speaking to you through my layer," James said softly as if it took everything within his power to say that with his voice not cracking or anything like that

"B-but why. talk to me." She said in horror, hearing this James almost exploded. but he managed to calm himself down. he went on to pack his stuff, he only picked a few things not wanting to say out of fear he might do something he could regret. but she tried to stop him, she would not just let him leave, but seeing this he just left with the stuff he already have

"... I know you've been cheating, I'm sure your boss can treat you better." He said coldly as he left, slamming the door on her. at this moment she was already in tears, but the tears just flew out hearing this. she opened the door as she rushed after James, wanting him to stay so they could talk. but James entered his car and ignored her,

but she showed how crazy she could be as she stood in the way of the car, having no other choice, James went inside to hear her out.

"... it was a mistake. I know it was all my flirt, but you began working more hours, and with you being more stressed out, I felt like you didn't love me anymore..." She said weakly, in the past few days James indeed have started working more hours, this was because as the pandemic was about to hit, he guessed many people would be fired.

if he were to be one of those people, he wanted to at least make more money, while at the same time searching for a new job just in case. So, yes, he was stressed out as in the back of his mind he was fearing he would be fired, and yes, he was stressed out as he was working more hours and having little sleep. but did he not try his best to manage his time,

"I was weak and viable, my boss at first saw was not forced on my work and tried to see what was wrong... one thing led to another, I know I'm in the wrong, but I will put in the effort to change, I promise. just give me a chance." She said through tears, James seeing this hesitated. he fucked up many times, but she always worked on him.

So, he gave her a chance. he had her hope into his car and drove off towards where her boss lived, he was married, and he wanted her to tell the wife everything.

"... I can't do that, I can't destroy another family." She said almost in tears, to which James respected her choice by having her get out of his car, which she did was he started yelling. she watched while in tears as James drove off, only to park before a house where he went to knock on the door.

a woman opened the door, and James went on to tell her everything. she watched as the woman broke down upon seeing the text messages, but in the end, she thanked him.

James came back and picked her up, that was the only chance he planned on doing, he fucked up many times in the past, but he never fucked up this bad. cheating was his bottom line, and she knew that worse is how she was going on lying to him and had the nerves to stop him from trying to leave as if she did nothing.

he could no longer trust her, she after sending her home, he left and went on to buy a place to stay, it was a small crib, but it was cheap. upon moving in, he couldn't help but just break down once more, but he tried to keep himself together as he moved forward with the devours,

weeks went by, and he began drinking more and more often, while looking at the bottles filling the ground, he couldn't help but laugh. he was so much like his father, all that was missing was a child to lash his rage out on.

but he was not the only one in a bad condition, his soon-to-be ex-wife lost a lot of weight, and she quit her job the day everything happened and rarely went outside. it's like she rarely eats, as she needed her sister to support her.

she didn't fight for anything and simply let James take it, all of this world had the marriage to come to an end sooner, but the pandemic soon hit, forcing it to be stretched far longer than James wanted it to.

his soon to be ex-wife changed her life around, as she began working for a church, she seemly turned her life around. meanwhile, James just drank and drank away, until it led to him almost dying.

drunk, James dropped a bottle to the ground, leading to it shatter all over the ground. he fell over slamming his head onto a table before he fell into a sharp bottle. he was out for some time before he slowly woke up,

seeing his injuries, he quickly picked up the phone to call for help, before he struggled to the door, it would be much easier for them to get to him if he was outside. so he struggled outside in the snow, he didn't feel the cold, and he didn't even notice that he felt anything.

no fear that there was something stabbed into his chest, no worry about his life or death, he was walking out as he thought it was the best thing to do right now. so, he walked up the hill, which lead to his crib, he knew how hard it was to find this road, and how hard it was to get down. so, he went to a tree and simply fell over.

as his life flashed before his eyes, he closed his eyes slightly, a part of him was happy that he was dead, but he slowly heard some noises, he couldn't make them out, but after trying for some time he soon did. someone praying,

He slowly opened his eyes only to see his soon-to-be ex-wife standing near his bed, praying, he looked at her emotionless, he felt nothing. no joy upon seeing her, no hatred, or anything of the kind, he just felt nothing. as if something within him had died,

"you're ok, I rushed over the moment I got the call. the doctors said you will be ok, but you need to stay off your feet," she said softly, James couldn't tell if she was smiling or not since she was wearing a mask, and honestly, he didn't care. he just simply listened to her speak none stop as if she was happy that she could meet up with an old friend.

soon James was dismissed to go home, where she took him back home in a wheelchair. she went on help James recover, as James couldn't take care of himself. it took a few weeks, but James was up and walking around without the need.

in these few weeks, all he only said was a few yes, no, I don't, maybe, and hmm. yet she didn't mind, but since James was back on his feet he felt and went out to a bar. he just didn't want to stay there for much longer, but he was still not at 100%, so he had no choice

"what's with the down look?" a woman suddenly sat with James, confusing James slightly who didn't expect someone to try hitting on him. the woman smiled slightly as she passed a drink over to him, and began talking to him.

James hesitated, but when he looked at the woman's ring finger, he froze for a moment, as he saw the outline of a ring there. this woman was married... with that, he smiled slightly and began flirting back,

it didn't take long for them to leave and had over to a hotel, where they had their phone, but when the woman fell asleep, James took her phone. facing the phone before her face, the phone was unlocked, and he went on to take a picture of himself and his wife and sent it to her husband who was out of the city to visit his mother who was ill.

he didn't send it to just her but everyone, so when the next morning when she woke up and saw that her phone had broken up, her word shattered. seeing that look, James felt something, as if something that was dead within him came back to life... but that feeling slowly began to die out, making James panic as if he was dying.

but when the woman began to angrily yell at him, as James just destroyed her life, that feeling returned, making James feel alive. seeing her in tears as she broke down, James just smiled before leaving.

upon returning home, his soon-to-be ex-wife sighed upon seeing him return, James, looked at her for a moment as she spoke before he went to take a shower. later that day when she was doing laundry, his soon-to-be ex-wife froze when she saw a used condom in James's pants. seeing this, she broke down crying,

so, for the next month, James went out to the bar and would find a married woman and slept with them, only to send a picture of what happened to everyone in their contacts, the pandemic didn't hit where they lived hard, so people were still living their lives.

but one day, James was walking home when a many angrily walked up to him and pulled a gun out at him. James looked at this, he knew he should be scared... but he wasn't, he was oddly calm.

"You destroyed life, slept with my wife, and sent those pictures to everyone, my mother, my children, and grandparents... you destroyed my whole life," he yelled angrily, his grade only grew seeing James's smile as if he was taking pleasure in his pain.

enraged, he shot the gun, killing James. he walked over to his body and shot let every round out, when he saw the smile which remained on his face, he angrily kicked James' face in, destroying it, he only stopped with the police arrived