Challenge 13: Ants in the cupboard

Amy and Gerald are arguing. They are human, so they do this quite frequently. There are ants in the cupboard beside Gerald’s foot, but he is not aware of this. The air around Gerald’s face is getting hotter and hotter as he thinks, I can’t do this anymore. There are images in his head also, pictures of another woman he would rather be with but has never actually met. Her face is staring back at him from the television set atop the fridge behind Amy’s head.

Potted flowers on the window sill are unable to extract any moisture from their rock hard dirt; they are drooping and Amy blames Gerald for their death. She says she was away on a business trip and he cannot do anything without her. She remembers how good it felt to be immersed in the warm waters of a place she calls Bali. She feels pain that she is no longer there. The beat of her heart continues steadily, one contraction after another, like the way her body will contract when she squeezes out his baby, still growing in her womb.

Gerald picks up the flowers and puts them into a plastic bin. Amy touches his shoulder, a salty mix hydrogen dioxide on her cheeks. “Sorry,” she says. I need you to grow up, she thinks.

Wordcount: 220