All characters in this story are aged 18 or above.
Helen Lindberg is a 39 year old woman, she lives in a large house in one of the more affluent districts of the City. She is married, and has two children. Her husband is currently away, he is not often at home. The reason for this is that his work schedule demands he be on business trips out of town quite often. Helen has noticed over the past few years, he has become more and more distant. He seemed less interest in spending time with her, and their children.
Helen picked up the phone, and dialled his cell phone number, she longed to hear his voice, but every time he spoke to her, he voice was filled with disinterest. It was the early afternoon, and she was alone at home, she sat on the couch in the living room as she called.
"Hello dear," said the voice on the other end.
"Hi Richard," Helen said in a quiet, but endearing voice, "I hope you're not busy to talk, are you?"
"I am a little, dear," said Richard, "what is it?"
"You haven't been home in days, you said you might be back today?"
"Yeah honey, sorry, something came up today, I don't think I'll be able to make it."
"Oh..."
"I'm really sorry dear, you know how my work schedule is."
"No.. its okay, I know dear, you work very hard," said Helen, trying to contain her trembling lips.
"I'm sorry dear don't be upset, please."
Helen tried to maintain a calmness in her voice, but part of her wanted to unleash on her husband, "Honey, you promised you'd be home today..."
"Yes, I know. I'll call you later honey." Richard could not seem eager enough to hang up, by the sounds of his voice.
Helen sat there on the couch for a few minutes, as her bitterness crept in. How long would this go on for? How long had it already gone on for? Her husband had been like this for years.
She knew she was living in denial, she knew there was every chance he was having an affair. She didn't want to bring it up with him because she was afraid he might leave her permanently. She didn't want to bring it up because of the effect it could have on her children.
Helen had two children, both from Richard. The eldest, Alexandra, was 19. She was also living away from home, living in a dorm far away pursuing her studies. Her youngest was her son, Michael, who had recently just turned 18. He lived from home, but was also a student at University. He spent most of his days out of home as well, but would return around the afternoon.
Helen herself had a full-time job. She would spend most of her day at her office, or working from home. She had many friends, whom she would often speak to on the phone, or would go shopping with, or would invite over for tea. She enjoyed both chit chat, and physical activity, and would often go the gym, though never with her friends. Thus Helen, was never really out of things to do, or in a state of true loneliness. Yet, she always felt lonely, and neglected. Her husband, whom she still deeply loved, she felt was not attracted to her any more. She wondered if the woman he was having an affair with, if he was, was younger than her.
She walked up to a mirror in the living room, and looked at her reflection. She turned sideways, and gazed at her sides in the mirror. She knew she was not unattractive, in fact for a person of her age, she always was told she was quite fit and healthy.
Helen was not much of a superficial person, she did not pay attention to her looks more than she felt necessary. Despite this, she tried to maintain a well kept figure, largely out of fear of losing the interest of her husband, which seemed to have happened anyway.
She was about 1.65 metres tall, and had sandy brown hair. She often kept her hair tied up in a knot behind her head. Her eyes were a green hue, and would often be strikingly bright from a distance. Her eyebrows were somewhat thick, but overall her face was considered generally beautiful by most who saw her.
She knew she could have most men she desired if she really tried, and had been the victim of unwelcome advances at her workplace on more than one occasion, sometimes from men far younger than her. However, she only had eyes for her husband, whom she felt was the only man she had ever truly loved in a romantic way her whole life.
She sat down by the edge of the sofa, and flipped through daytime channels on the television. Nothing particular grabbed her interest, and she could not get her mind of whether her husband was cheating or not.
~~~
Helen was walking through the mall with her friend Catherine, whom she often simply referred to as Cat. Her Cat had been friends for many years, Cat's daughter had been a classmate of Helen's daughter Alexandra since an early age, and the friendship between their two children had fostered a close friendship between them over the time.
Cat, 39, was the woman Helen was most likely to call and talk to about nothing when she was feeling depressed or moody. Cat would often be more than happy to listen, hiding the fact that more than often Helen's complaining and droning would bore her to death. But being the good friend, Cat made it a priority to provide true understanding and counsel from a friend at such times.
Cat picked a red blouse off one of the coathangers on display,
"This looks so cute, doesn't it Helen?"
"It does look cute dear..."
"Love, stop thinking about that. Richard would never cheat on you, he loves you, you know that."
Helen turned to look Cat in the eye,
"Cat, you don't even know Richard that well. He's an extremely polite gentleman in front of guests, but he's different when he's just around his family."
"You think he just pretends to love you?" Cat inquired.
"No, I think he does. I feel he's just bored with us. He has no time for Michael either, who graduated from school last year. Michael really looks up to Richard, but sometimes I feel Richard couldn't care less."
"Love, Michael is such a sweet boy, he has excellent manners. You know he will do fine."
"I know dear, but..." Helen sighed at Catherine, "but... he deserves better."
Helen stared at the ground for a few moments.
"Oh, come here love." Cat hugged Helen, who reluctantly reciprocated.
After the moment had passed, Cat returned to admiring the clothes in the aisle.
"Dear, this one feels amazing!"
"Cat... I think, Richard is cheating on me."
Cat dropped the blouse she was holding and turned to look at Helen with an open mouth.
"What makes you say that?" she gasped, inquisitively.
"His business trips... they've been taking longer and longer. Every time he comes back home, I feel as if he just wants to leave again for another trip. Sometimes I call him at his hotel, he seems like he's having way too much fun. Most of the time he doesn't even answer."
Helen sat down on a chair, and her voice began trembling.
"One night, I called him. I could hear a woman laughing distantly on the other end of the phone, but he was in his hotel suite. He seemed so happy. His voice, the way he spoke, he seemed exactly the way he was when we were first in love. There's someone else he's seeing, I just know it."
At this point, Helen broke down into tears. Cat kneeled beside her, and put her arm around her, rubbing her shoulder.
"Love, I'm so sorry."
***
In the late afternoon, Helen returned home, Cat accompanied her, driving the car. They walked in the main corridor, and in to the living room, and found Michael there lying semi-asleep on the sofa with his head pointed towards the door and the television off.
"Hi honey, how are you," said Helen to her son, half-heartedly, struggling to hide her low mood.
"Michael darling!" said Cat, smiling overeagerly, as she tends to do.
"Hello Catherine, how are you?" said Michael as he rose to stand.
"I'm great thankyou darling, Helen and I just came back from the shops." she said as she reached out and hugged Michael, who was still in a daze.
"Oh cool," said Michael unexcitedly, and patted Cat on the back with one hand.
Cat then turned towards the door, making as if to leave.
"Helen, thankyou so much for today, I really hope you feel better. Call me tomorrow okay?"
"Sure love, you sure you don't want to stay a bit longer?" Helen gestured.
"Thankyou sweetie, but I need to go home, my husbands waiting for me, and he hates having dinner when I'm not there." Catherine's smile suddenly vanished, regretting having said her last words in front of Helen, and made towards the door.
"I'll talk with you tomorrow, dear."
***
Michael bore both traits of Helen and Richard. Helen always thought he resembled a strikingly handsome variation of Richard in his youth. He was 1.78 metres tall, and had Richard's black hair, and light brown eyes. Helen knew Michael was incredibly intelligent and had great potential, although also incredibly lazy. He already was the smartest amongst his peers, and Helen knew if he applied himself better, he would be nothing short of genius. Richard always told her that her opinion of their son's capability was greatly exaggerated, but she felt that Richard didn't really care much for their son anyway.
When Michael would laugh, he would grin more to one side, and show his teeth in such a way that Helen never mentioned to anyone, but reminded her exactly of Richard in his youth. In her opinion, it was one of the most attractive features of Richard when she married him.
Michael was also a great eater, if there was one thing he loved, it was food. Despite this, and his general lack of physical activity, Michael never seemed to gain much weight, and was always either thin, or within the normal range of weight, although he never really developed toned muscles. Michael had always been reluctant to work out at the gym, although his father had tried endlessly to push him to go. Helen herself did not mind so much, because while she knew it would be better for Michael's body, in her mind she felt that working out endless hours at the gym didn't suit the personality she had in mind of her son.
"Mum, when's dad gonna be home?" Michael asked, his eyelids droopy, as he leaned on the kitchen counter.
"Sorry dear, but he won't be back tonight. He promised he'd be back tomorrow night."
"Okay..." Michael said after a slight pause, and slumped back on the couch.
"You know Mike, its a shame, I really was planning on making a nice dinner tonight, or thinking we could all go to a restaurant."
"Mhmmm, its okay mum, don't worry about it," groaned Michael.
"Yes, so dear, would you just like to get a pizza tonight instead?"
"Mrrhhhm, yeah okay," grogged Michael.
Helen sighed and went at sat next to her son on the couch, stroking his hair as he buried his face into the cushions.
"Honey, I know you're upset that your father isn't home today. I know you were really looking forward to it, so was I. But you know, its not his fault, he works very hard. He works hard for our sake; if it was up to him, he'd spend all his days here with you."
"I know mum," said Michael looking up.
"If you like dear, we can watch a movie tonight."
"Nah, don't worry about it mum," said Michael with a heavy sigh, as he stood up and walked towards the stairs to his bedroom.
"Michael, would you like to show me one of your video games? We can play together."
Michael did not respond, he just chuckled and walked up the stairs, leaving his mother to dwell in sadness on the couch.
***
