AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES…
CALISTA
Point Judith, Rhode Island
“Ughhh… this is ridiculous!”Calista hissed angrily, staring out the window of her tiny beachfront cottage and wishing things could be so different. It wasn’t Jack’s fault, yet she blamed him all the same.
Her husband wasn’t supposed to be there that evening, and she never even asked him to pick up the extra shift in the emergency room. There were so many things that could have gone so differently three years ago that would have changed both of their lives.
If Jack didn’t have this ‘white knight’ persona where he felt like he had to save everyone… if the druggie hadn’t shot up once more, grabbing something for a weapon. If the drunk had stopped drinking a half hour earlier, and if that car hadn’t pulled into the middle of the intersection, putting the whole chaotic tragedy into motion… then maybe they might be celebrating their ten-year anniversary today.
Instead, she was sitting there at her desk, looking out the window, and praying for inspiration to suddenly tap her on the shoulders. Her manuscript was blank, and it was due in two months. It was really hard to write a suspense novel when there was zero suspense in your life.
Burnout was real - and she was tired.
Mentally and physically tired.
She could still hear that phone call, could still see the coverage of the horrific accident that led to two cars careening into the emergency room of a local hospital… startling the druggie that had stabbed Jack. There were so many errors, so many protocols that had fallen through the cracks, that it wasn’t even funny.
Yet here she was…
Alone.
No children, no parents, Jack’s family had moved away, unable to bear the sight of her, his home, or his place of work – and she truly couldn’t blame them. The only person Calista had to reach out to was her sister, who did some sort of weird ‘I study ice and am smarter than you’job in the Arctic Circle… or maybe Antarctic?
Geography was not her thing, and that was what Google maps was for, right? It was white, lots of ice, and due north on a globe… and email was the main form of communication. That was all that mattered – including this email that had just come through.
Calista,
Time for some tough love – and you’ll just have to forgive me for this, but we both need to come out of our shells and get a life. Seriously. Now, I know you, know your habits and patterns… so this was much too easy.
Just remember – I really do love you.
Athena
Puttingher head down in her hands, picking up her phone and watching TikTok videos for the eighth time… she realized that zilch was getting done today too.
Nope.
This was another wasted day spent moping, watching the ocean in the distance, thinking about times long since passed, and wishing for a Hallmark moment that would signify that life was worth living still.
She was ready to be tapped on the shoulder by some fairy godmother, let some wounded soldier wash up onto shore needing to hide away from the world, or perhaps a broken-down truck from some hot and sexy chicken farmer that would…
“Oh man…” Calista half-laughed and half-sobbed, burying her face in her hands again, feeling so hopeless and lost. “Achickenfarmer? That is so far from ‘hot’or ‘sexy’. What’s he going to do? Pluck you until you love him? Wiggle a wattle at you?”
Fighting back tears and the yawning, deep depression threatening to swallow her - she knew Athena was right. She needed to get a life and had no clue on how to even start out again.
She had zero hobbies – and no interest in picking up one.
The idea of meeting someone at a bar or coffee shop wasn’t appealing for many reasons. Bars meant finding some drunk who was probably looking for one thing only… and meeting someone at a coffee shop was off limits because that was how she’d met Jack – at the café on the college campus where they had both attended.
Video games were not her thing, nor was going to the gym. Nothing excited her, made her laugh or smile anymore, and she was definitely losing herself in the miasma that was swallowing her whole.
Slipping on her loafers, she opened the sliding glass door that faced the ocean and shut it behind her.
Air.
She needed fresh air to keep the horrific dark thoughts at bay that lingered around her like some evil spirit, whispering to her. Looking out in the distance, she saw a dot on the horizon and continued to survey the water before her. The seas were calm and the tide was going out, revealing all sorts of driftwood and debris that had washed up from the ocean floor.
