I Loved Her

Short Story

David sat down at one end of the table and loosened his tie. He looked at the savory meal of steak and mashed potatoes on the plate in front of him.

“Thank you, Lewis. This looks great.”

Lewis sat down at the other end of the table and picked up his fork and knife.

“It’s the least I could do. I thought this would be a great way to hang out again.”

David picked up his fork and took bites of the mashed potatoes.

“We have been friends since grade school. I know her death was hard, but you could have come to me for anything.”

David slurred his words, still swallowing the food. Lewis cut a few pieces from his steak and took a bite. He chewed it slow, closed his eyes, and swallowed. To the right of his plate was a glass filled halfway with red wine. He took a sip.

“I didn’t want you to see me that way, and who knows what I could have done.”

“That’s why I was so worried. I thought you offed yourself. I came over now and then, but no response. It wasn’t until your mother finally told me you took a trip out to a cabin that I had a little comfort, at least.”

David grabbed his knife and cut a slice from his steak. Lewis’s eyes widened. He watched him chew the meat and grinned from ear to ear.

“I know how much Katherine meant to you.”

Lewis’s smile fell, and a fire flickered in his chest. He stabbed at another piece of steak, chewed it, and felt a warmth smother the flame.

“She was some woman, wasn’t she? You know I actually bought the wine we’re drinking for our tenth anniversary. She always loved a good red.”

David took a gulp from his glass.

“You know, I never was much of a wine person myself. It tastes like dirt and feet.”

Lewis gripped the knife tighter. The glass clinked against the table. David continued to fill himself with the steak and potatoes.

“Not everyone can appreciate a fine wine.”

Lewis took another sip from his glass. He cut into the steak and savored another piece. His forehead throbbed. David chuckled aloud with food, only half chewed, still in his mouth.

“Yeah, that’s fair. So what have you been doing? If that isn’t too much to ask?”

Lewis cut into the steak again. He pushed the knife hard against the plate. It screeched through the room when they touched. David swallowed the food in his mouth and took the last swig of his wine. Lewis thrust the fork into the piece of meat.

“It has been hard. I have to admit, I almost bit a bullet a few times, but soon enough, I found myself planning the rest of my life.”

David swiped up another bite of mashed potatoes and shoveled it into his mouth.

“I can’t imagine how hard it was to lose the woman you loved.”

The fire engulfed Lewis’s chest. He slammed the fork and knife down on the table. David jumped in his chair and stared at Lewis with wide eyes and a full mouth.

“You fucking piece of shit!”

David set his fork and knife down and swallowed his food.

“Woah, Lewis, what’s wrong man?”

“You’re what’s wrong! You knew I loved her, and after all the years we have known each other.”

“Okay, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“You fucked her!”

“What!?”

“You fucked Katherine behind my back.”

“I’m not sure what you think happened, but I didn’t have sex with Katherine.”

“Don’t lie to my face!”

Lewis reached under the table. Attached to the bottom were a holster and a .44 Magnum. He pulled it from the holster and raised it toward David.

“Woah man, take it easy!”

David held his hands out to Lewis. His left hand trembled. Lewis clenched his teeth. The room fell silent. He put his thumb on the hammer and pulled it back. David stayed still in his seat. A bang pierced through the silence. The first bullet zipped over the table and past David’s ear. He hunched down in his seat at the sound with his hands still in the air.

“You get one more chance to tell me the truth. I want to hear it from you.”

Lewis pulled back the hammer.

“Please don’t do this, I didn’t-“

Another bang erupted throughout the room. The second bullet burst through the tip of David’s right middle finger and into his shoulder. Blood and small pieces of the fingertip sprinkled across the table. The cracked finger bone protruded from the fleshy stump. A crimson stain on his collared shirt grew bigger by the second and trailed down to his waist. David grabbed onto his shoulder with his left and stared at his right hand. Nausea swirled through his body.

“Ah fuck! Fuck you man!”

He grabbed the thick beige napkin next to his plate and wrapped it around what he had left of his middle finger. Lewis pulled back the hammer. David clenched his teeth.

“If you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll have to bleed it out of you.”

“You know I felt bad for you, but you are one sick fuck!”

Lewis grabbed the table and threw it onto its side. Everything on it crashed to the floor in an eruption. The third bullet zipped through the air and shredded through David’s left kneecap. He screamed out in agony. Pieces of bone split through his tendons.

“Whose baby was it!?” Lewis shouted.

David held onto his leg and stared at Lewis like a deer in headlights. He pulled the hammer back and stepped closer to David.

“Whose fucking baby was it!?”

“What baby!?” David cried out.

“You and Katherine fucked when I went away to New York. Stop the charade, Davie. She told me everything. You thought you would make me believe it was mine. You’re a sack of shit!”

David spoke with a tremble in his voice.

“Wait, Katherine was pregnant?”

Lewis cracked a smile.

“Fuck, she didn’t tell you, did she?”

He erupted into a cackle.

“You fucked my wife, and she didn’t have the audacity to tell you she was pregnant.”

David’s bottom lip trembled.

“Are you sure it wasn’t yours?”

Lewis aimed the revolver and squeezed the trigger. The sound erupted through their ears, and the fourth bullet shattered David’s right kneecap. His throat burned as he screamed. Blood spilled from both his legs and pooled under his shoes.

“Couldn’t have been mine, Davie, I’m fucking sterile! Can you believe that? A nice guy like me. Sterile! While you sneak behind my back and pump up my wife!”

Tears rolled down David’s cheeks. His blood soaked his collared shirt. The napkin around his right hand turned crimson. The pool on the floor reached Lewis’s shoes. David held his head low and sobbed to himself.

“You know, Katherine didn’t die in her sleep. She told me one night when we went to bed. I noticed she was getting sick more often than usual, and she couldn’t keep it together. Every detail filled my ears until I couldn’t take it anymore. What other option did I have, except to get on top and smother her with a pillow?”

Lewis lowered down to the floor and put himself in David’s eye line. He tried to keep his head up, but his body felt limp. His eyebrows scrunched, and he sneered at Lewis.

“You piece of shit. You killed her and my unborn child, and you treat me like a monster.”

David snorted, let out a deep cough, and spit a mix of blood and saliva onto Lewis. It smacked against his cheek and dripped off his chin. He pulled back the hammer and aimed the revolver.

“You were my best friend, like a brother, and that is how you treat me. That’s the respect you show me. Fucking my wife while I was out doing my best to fix our problem.”

“Oh fuck y–”

Another bang erupted in the dining room. The fifth bullet punctured David’s forehead. It shredded through his brain and left a gaping hole in the back of his head. Brain matter splattered against the wall, and blood dripped onto the floor. David’s head whipped back and slumped over to the right. Both his arms dropped down. His right arm swayed, and the napkin slipped off into the pool of blood.

Lewis stood up from his crouched position and stepped back from David’s body. He stared at him for a moment, his eyes watered, and the cool tears streamed down his cheeks.

“I loved her.”

He pulled the hammer back and aimed the revolver. The muzzle was warm against his temple. The trigger clenched, releasing the sixth bullet.