AUTUMN LEAVES

~A few months ago~

“How much for the beer, son?” Mario asked the skinny little boy. “Fifty thousand Rupiah each, sir” he answered timidly. Mario stood from his beach chair and handed him a twenty-dollar bill, which was way more than the price of the beer.

“You speak good English. Do you go to school?” Autumn asked as she removed her sunglasses.

The Indonesian boy, who could not have been older than ten, shook his head, “big brother help me.”

“What does your father do? Does he work?” she asked him, as Mario put his hand on her shoulder.

“Honey, let him be,” he whispered to his wife upon seeing how nervous the kid was.

Then the boy smiled and lifted his foot off the sand and shook it. “Shoes. Father sell shoes.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Autumn petted the boy on the head, “good. You make sure to listen to your big brother.” Before he left, Autumn made sure to give him some fruits in a container where she hid a 100-dollar bill. “This is for you only. You don’t have to share it with your father or brother,” Autumn said with a loving smile as the boy waved to the newlyweds and approached other resort guests.

“He’s just a kid, too young to work in these conditions,” Autumn said as her eyes followed the little boy.

“Bali is full of tourists and rich investors, but the locals are not particularly rich. That’s the sad reality of all these touristic locations in the south, sweetheart,” Mario said as he kissed her hand.

“At least he has a family. I just hope they’re not abusive,” she said.

“Here, everyone in the family must work to survive,” Mario said, “it’s unfair, but it is what it is. That does not mean they’re abusive though.”

“I’m grateful that our kids will have a good life,” she said pensively.

“Our kids, eh?” Mario said with a big smile.

“Yeah, I mean one day. Don’t you want that?” Autumn asked.

“Yes, I do, one day. They’ll be smart like you and have hockey sense like me,” he said.

“We will teach them to be generous and kind to others. And even if we’re rich, we should teach them how to earn everything in life,” she said with a serious tone.

Mario smiled and nodded. “I see you have planned everything out, down to every moral lesson,” he joked as he kissed Autumn’s shoulder.

“Could we do something for these kids, Mario?” Autumn asked as her gaze wandered back to that little boy who was now standing in the sun with another kid his age, counting their earnings.

“It’s already done, Autumn. The UNICEF has an ongoing educational project in Indonesia. They needed additional funds, so I made a donation in both of our names. The main community centre on this island will receive part of it,” Mario explained.

Autumn removed her large white sunhat and kissed her husband deeply. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” she asked with her hand on his cheek.

“I wanted to surprise you when they send us the thank you letter. Somehow, I predicted that you would think about helping,” Mario said with a grin.

“It’s the best honeymoon present ever. I mean it,” Autumn said as she hugged her husband tightly in the middle of the beach. Mario planted another kiss on her lips before she said, “I don’t deserve you,” a tear slipping down her cheek.

*****

“I cheated on you,” she said as tears stained her face.

“You what?” he asked, standing up abruptly, his mouth open and his eyes impossibly wide. “I’m sorry, did you say you cheated on me?” he asked.

Hanging her head low, Autumn nodded weakly. “Answer me, god damn it!” Mario demanded.

“Yes,” she whispered covering her face in shame and fear of seeing his reaction.

Mario sat back down, almost free falling. He stared at his wife in utter silence, at the woman he loved and trusted. Then he stood up again, with his hands on the window frame, he shook his head in disbelief as her words started to sink in. But he remained quiet. His back was hunched and his forehead colliding with the cold glass of the window.

The only sound in the room was Autumn’s lament. Mario was not enraged. He did not yell. He did not demand answers. Instead, he was quiet, too quiet. Even when the woman he trusted the most had lied to him, Mario remained composed. And somehow, his reaction was more painful to her than any outrage could have been.

Mario turned around and stared hard at the painting he bought at their last charity auction; his tight jaw was the only visible sign of how upset he was. Instead of asking her why, for how long, or with whom, and after a long silence he just said, “pack your things and leave.”

Autumn nodded and stood up while holding on to the armrest, her knees barely supporting her. “I’m sorry. I know you will never forgive me, I don’t deserve it. I did not mean to –”

“Pack your damn things and leave!” Mario repeated. “When I’m back tomorrow morning, you need to be gone!” he said as he turned on his heels and left the room without a second glance. Mario stormed out of the house, slamming the front door too hard that the colossal chandeliers quacked.

Autumn dropped to the floor devastated. She knew this moment would come, but she realized that she was never going to be prepared to see the hurt she caused Mario, the man who was willing to have children with her just to make her happy.

Was her future with Sidney, or even her happiness worth breaking someone’s heart like that? She wondered as she hugged her knees to her chest and cried.

“Mario knows. Oh God!” she said after a few moments. She collected her emotions and dialled Sidney’s number on her cell phone. Sidney did not answer. Not trusting her voice, she did not leave a voice message. Instead, she texted him.

-Can you come over now?

As she fiddled with her phone, waiting for Sidney to respond, she heard a car park. It cannot be Sidney; she only texted him minutes ago. Is it Mario? Is he back to ask all the questions that she did not dare to answer? Autumn held her breath when the front door opened.

“Papa, are you home?” Autumn barely had time to stand up when Lauren barged into the living room.

“You fucking bitch!” Lauren sneered, her body trembling with anger at the unexpected sight of Autumn. “You have the nerve to be here after all you’ve done,” Lauren said, her loud voice scaring Autumn.

Lauren looked like a wild witch. Her long dark hair was frizzled down her cheeks; Her big eyes were wide and cold, and her nostrils flared. She clenched her jaw as she approached Autumn, eyeing her like a predator ready to pounce on its prey.

“Don’t you pretend to be all innocent! That won’t work on me,” she yelled, not giving Autumn much chance to talk. “Unlike dad and Sid, I know who you truly are. You’re nothing but a whore who only cares about money and fame”, she added, her gestures mirroring her rage.

“I will make damn sure that my dad sees you for who you are,” Lauren continued with her yelling as she grabbed the USB key from her handbag and held it up.

Finding her voice, Autumn asked, “what’s this?”

“This, my dear, is the proof of your disgusting affair with–”, Lauren paused, her lips started trembling.

“You don’t deserve him. You never will!” Lauren said, losing control over her tears. “You fooled him just like you fooled my dad,” she added, as she wiped her nose with her sleeve.

“Lauren, I’m sorry. I told Mario–” Autumn started saying, but Lauren interrupted.

“Shut up! You don’t get to say you’re sorry. You took everything from me. Everything!” Lauren screamed, her throaty voice filling the room.

“First you took my dad from us. And then, you took away the only man I ever loved! The man that I, Lauren Lemieux, was supposed to be with,” Lauren said between sobs as Autumn breathed unsteadily, her own tears streaming down her face.

Autumn had nothing to say to stop this young woman from accusing her of stealing her father or from blaming her for her broken heart. As Autumn watched how distraught Lauren was, she thought of all the people, aside from Mario, that will suffer the consequences of her relationship with Sidney.

Both women were startled by the loud ringtone of a cell phone. Autumn felt her phone buzzing in her hand. Glancing at the screen, she saw Sidney’s name.

“It’s him, isn’t it? Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Sidney Crosby is calling as we speak,” Lauren roared, gesturing hysterically, almost losing her footing.

As Autumn was trying to decide on what to do, her phone slipped out of her shaking hands. As she crouched in front of Lauren to grab it off the floor, Lauren screamed, “Answer him!”

“Don’t you want to say goodbye to your boyfriend?” Lauren said in a strange melodic voice.

When Autumn looked up, Lauren Lemieux had a gun pointed at her. A 9 mm black shiny gun. Autumn tumbled back in panic, “Lauren! What... what are you- Lauren?”

“What am I doing?” Lauren said between tears. “I’m giving you what you deserve,” she said as she aimed the gun at her step-mother.

“Lauren, please! Oh my God! You don’t know what you’re doing,” Autumn managed to say at gunpoint.

“Oh, but I do. The world will be a much better place without you in it,” Lauren said with a determined look that terrified Autumn.

“Stand up!” Lauren commanded with a motion of her gun.

Standing up, Autumn raised her hands in surrender. Both women looked down as Autumn’s phone buzzed again next to her foot, only this time it was a notification of a text message from Sidney.

“Lauren, please put that gun down and let’s talk. You’re not thinking clearly. You don’t know what you’re doing!” Autumn said, her voice rising.

“What I’m doing is making sure that you don’t get to be with Sidney and that my dad doesn’t get the chance to forgive you when he finds out. Don’t you see it? Your death will solve all my problems for good,” Lauren said as she got closer to her target, the gun steady in her hand, her demeanour suddenly too calm.

“Wait, are you on drugs?” Autumn asked as she took a few steps back.

Ignoring her question, Lauren tilted her head and pouted. “Oh, you’re scared,” she said.

“Lauren, please. Listen to me, I’m leaving Mario. I told him the truth, he will not forgive me. I will leave. Please, you don’t need to do this. You will go to jail. Please think,” Autumn begged, shaking her head frantically. But Autumn’s words fell on deaf ears. Lauren had only one goal in mind. One mission. One target.

Lauren had Autumn within a perfect shooting range, in the perfect corner. Autumn stood shaking under the famous Van Gogh Autumn Landscape painting, the one Mario has spent a fortune on just to please his wife.

“Any last words?” Lauren asked with a smile as her finger curled around the trigger.

Notes

Here's a new chapter. I'm back :) Less frantic schedule these days, so enjoy the more frequent updates :)

Charlie