Jim and his wife have been married for several years. When they were first together, they were always laughing and having fun and then, as time went by, their relationship started to sour and arguments began to happen more and more frequently. Eventually, his wife decides to leave him and in an emotional scene where both parties lament on happier times in their marriage, she packs her case and goes. The story would revolve around Jim’s attempt to woo and win back the woman he loves.
Scene
He leant against the door frame, watching her pack a bag; she was leaving him. He knew he’d been a terrible husband and he knew his arrogance had led him to this point. Despite the arguments, the slamming of doors; the revving of engines as one of them drove off into the night, furiously wiping tears away from their eyes: despite all of that, he loved her. He watched as she packed the long, red dress she had bought on their last trip to Rio; her favourite scarf that he had given her for their first anniversary; his Dexy’s Midnight Runners t-shirt that she liked to wear in bed… these items that were so her were being packed up and he didn’t know when he would see them again – if he would see them again. A surge of panic bubbled up inside of him.
“Please don’t go” he said. He thought his voice sounded smaller than he’d expected.
“I am going. You won’t persuade me otherwise; I’ve had enough Jim. You have pushed and pushed and now I’m backed up against the wall and this is my only option: I am leaving you.”
Absent-mindedly ignoring her metaphor, he glanced at the beige, bedroom wall and briefly remembered how they had decorated this room together after first buying the house. They had started off earnestly working at first, but it quickly dissolved into giggles as they indulged in a little paint fight. ‘Everything was so much fun then’ Jim thought, ‘how did we get here?’
She glanced at him, but only for the briefest of moments and she knew exactly what he was thinking. She had always been able to second-guess him and part of her hated that they had become one of those couples who finished each other’s sentences. Her belief in him had always been solid and she wished he could just stop and think about someone other than himself for once. ‘Even now, he’s questioning what HE could have done differently, not once giving it a thought that maybe I hold myself accountable for a number of factors too. He never did get the hang of ‘us’ and ‘we’, it was always ‘me’ and ‘I’.’ Sighing, she reached over to her underwear drawer and took out the lingerie Jim has bought her for last Valentine’s Day. Her memory drifted back to that evening, she remembered her excitement as he had given her the present and said he was taking her out for dinner. She also remembered the anger she had felt as they had driven up to ‘Big Al’s Rib House’ – his favourite restaurant; full of his friends.
Slamming the case shut, she turned and said ‘Okay Jim, I’m going now.’ He was pulled out of his daze, brought crashing back to a reality he didn’t want to face up to.
“Please don’t go.” He said again, his voice sounding decreasingly confident again. He knew he was close to tears and his stubborn side reared its head, telling him not to cry in front of her. He looked at her: she looked like she had been crying – she looked tired, and she was; she was tired of him. He had never hated himself more than in that moment, all because of the red, puffiness of her eyes and the paleness of her face. Their bedroom had also been a small room, but it suddenly felt like a wide-open plain with acres of expanse standing between them. All he could do was watch as she wiped a tear away slowly, and picking up her suitcase off from the bed, she walked out, without looking back.
