Scarlett suddenly woke up at night and saw that her husband was gone. When she approached the door, it was midnight. It was a very dark and lonely one. For some reason, Scarlett suddenly woke up and stretched her hands to cuddle her husband, but that was when she realized he wasn’t on the bed with her. Where could he be? Scarlett thought.
She got down from the bed and slowly opened the door. What she would discover would make her doubt her sanity. Was she going crazy, as her husband claimed? “Oh my god, not again,” Scarlett gasped as she handed her husband his red tie instead of the black one just a few minutes ago. She heard him loud and clear when he asked her to bring the red tie, and like the dutiful and zealous wife that she was, she rushed to his wardrobe.
Her husband Henry wasn’t the organized type, so she had to ransack the whole place before she finally found the red tie in the pocket of a trouser he wore the previous week. But as soon as she handed it to him, his smile melted into a mild frown. “I asked you to bring the black tie,” he said softly, like a concerned husband who understood that his wife was going through a hard time and it would be unfair to be harsh on her. However, he still seized the opportunity to remind her that she needed to visit the hospital so the doctors could come up with a diagnosis.
By this time, Scarlett knew she had exhausted her excuses. She knew that there was no point in blaming it on postpartum stress. Each time she promised to do better, things only got worse. She kept on making costly mistakes and doing the opposite of whatever was required of her. Everything was perfect until Scarlett gave birth to their beautiful daughter, April.
It started one evening when Henry got back from work. After taking off his suit, Scarlett asked him to come to the table for dinner. But as soon as he opened the plate, he glared at her. “You made potato and cheese?” he snorted. “Yes, that’s what you requested,” Scarlett said calmly. Turns out, Henry had asked her to make rice and salad, but somehow she mixed it up. Scarlett quickly apologized for her error, but as she returned the food to the kitchen, the events of that morning flashed in her mind—the moment Henry picked up his car keys from the table when she adjusted his tie and he pulled her in for a kiss and sweetly whispered, “I’ll be home early today, please make potato and cheese.”
Anyway, Scarlett didn’t think too much about it and quickly started making the rice and salad. The following weekend, something much more frightening happened. That evening, the family decided to take a stroll. Before then, Scarlett made some veggies which they would have when they returned. When she finished preparing the meal, they all went out. However, a few minutes after they stepped out, Henry discovered that he forgot his phone on the bed, so he rushed home to get it.
Once home, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The whole house was filled with smoke. Coughing profusely, Henry rushed to the kitchen, and that was when he discovered that Scarlett didn’t turn off the gas burner, and the veggies were completely burned. “How could you make such a big mistake? You could have burned down the whole house!” Henry screamed at Scarlett, who was lost for words. But seeing how disturbed she looked, he felt guilty for raising his voice at her. So he pulled her into his arms and in a loving voice, he said, “I don’t know what’s been happening to you lately, but you’re not in your right mind. You need to see the doctor, no matter what. I’ll never leave your side.”
That evening, Scarlett gently told him that she was fine, and it could just be postpartum conditions messing with her. Unfortunately, things only continued to get worse. Despite that, Scarlett was scared to admit that something could indeed be wrong with her, until one afternoon when she got the scare of her life.
Scarlett had just put her daughter to bed, so she joined her husband in the living room to watch the Premier League finals. About 20 minutes later, Scarlett suddenly jumped to her feet. “Did you hear that crazy laughter?” Scarlett visibly shaken asked her husband. But he told her he heard nothing. Three minutes later, she heard the crazy laughter again. She was so scared that she grabbed her husband’s hand. At this point, Scarlett became fearful, and she thought that perhaps she was truly losing her mind.
Scarlett continued hearing the hysterical laughter. Whenever it happened, she would jump on her husband, and while holding her, he would tell her that she needed to go to the hospital. Soon enough, Scarlett’s once peaceful marriage became toxic.
“Why won’t you go to the hospital? Do you want to wait until you do something crazy?” Henry would scream at his wife. You see, Scarlett was scared of the unknown. If it turned out that something was indeed wrong with her, she knew that she would be separated from her daughter. And if that happened, Scarlett knew she would never remain the same.
Scarlett became so worried that she started losing weight. Still, she refused to go to the hospital. But one day, something frightful happened, and the young mother knew she couldn’t stop running from the truth. It was a bright Sunday morning, and Scarlett had prepared cereal for her daughter. When all was set, she placed the food on the center table in the living room and went into the room to get April. But just as she sat down to start feeding the girl, Henry, who was holding a bottle of soy milk, immediately stopped her.
“Did you put soy milk in April’s food?” Henry asked angrily. “No, it’s breast milk. How could I do that? April’s allergic to soy milk,” Scarlett stuttered. Henry then told Scarlett that he found the soy milk on the kitchen table, and he thinks she forgot their daughter is allergic to soy and mistakenly added it into it. Just then, he tasted the cereal and uttered a high-pitched piercing sound. “It’s soy milk! You could have heard our daughter!” yelled Henry, grabbed April from her, and stormed out of the living room.
Scarlett immediately started feeling dizzy. “No, I didn’t add soy. I really didn’t,” she moaned. She remembered earlier how she took the breast milk from the fridge, then added it to the cereal. Finally, Scarlett had had enough. She decided that she would visit the hospital the next morning. But later that night, something crazy would happen, and Scarlett would have a change of plans.
It was midnight. Scarlett stirred in her sleep and stretched her arms to cuddle her husband. But she realized he wasn’t in bed with her. “Where could he be?” Scarlett wondered as she went in search of her husband. As she approached the living room door, Scarlett heard her husband laughing and talking to someone on the phone. Carefully, she opened the door and eavesdropped on his conversation.
As Scarlett listened to him, her heart pounded in her chest, and she shivered from head to toe. Soon enough, she felt she had had enough, and she staggered back to her room. Did what she just witnessed truly happen, or was it a figment of her imagination? Scarlett wondered. She knew there was only one way to discover the truth. Yes, she would install cameras around the house.
The next morning, Scarlett bought video cameras and installed them in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen. Then she sat back and waited for time to do its magic. Soon enough, time would reveal if she was the crazy woman or if her husband was the embittered man.
The following day, Henry’s screams woke Scarlett up, and she trailed the sound of his voice to the kitchen, where she met a disturbing sight. The kitchen looked like a mess. There were broken plates, specks of dirt, and leftovers scattered all over the floor. The walls were also stained with oil. Once again, Henry accused his wife of everything, but she said nothing. She waited patiently for him to leave the house.
As soon as he left for work, Scarlett connected the cameras to her computer. After pressing play, her heart began racing. At first, there was nothing unusual, but then she pressed fast forward. Just then, she saw her husband entering the kitchen, and then he turned the whole place upside down.
Hot tears streamed down Scarlett’s eyes, and at that moment, she remembered her husband’s late-night conversation. The phone was on speaker, so she heard the call recipient’s voice, and it belonged to a woman. “Don’t worry, my love. It’ll be over soon. She’s already starting to believe that she’s crazy. When she agrees to visit the hospital, I’ll take her to my friend, and he’ll give me a fake medical report. Soon, we’ll be divorced, and I’ll take everything she owns,” Henry told his mistress the other night on the phone.
Scarlett knew the only people she could turn to were Henry’s parents. Perhaps they would have an explanation for all of this. So the next morning, she visited his parents and told them everything. Finally, the truth came out.
Henry’s parents were quite wealthy and hard-working, but Henry was the exact opposite. He was a party-goer who loved to drink and didn’t bother to make plans for the future. Although he was a manager in one of his father’s companies, he was only a figurehead and didn’t even know how to run the business. Eventually, his parents decided he needed to get married, or else they would stop helping him financially. They thought he would become responsible if he started a family.
Henry knew he was nothing without his parents’ financial support, so he brought Scarlett to them. The young woman was smart, easygoing, and beautiful, and the elderly couple fell in love with her. Although Henry successfully deceived his wife into thinking that he was hardworking and upright, it didn’t work on his parents. So, to make him change his ways, the elderly couple made April their inheritor. They told Henry that April would remain their inheritor until he proved himself worthy of it.
That same day, Henry’s parents asked him to come over to the house, and when he did, they told him that his secret was out. Afterwards, his father told him that he no longer had rights to the company. They took everything they gave him. However, they left him with a small apartment and a car. “We tried our best to redeem you, but we failed. You’re free now. You can do as you please,” Henry’s dad said.
Henry left and never returned to his matrimonial home. Instead, he went to be with his mistress. The duo squandered Henry’s savings, and when he became broke, his mistress left him. Although he managed to secure a job in a tech company, he was laid off because of his incompetency. He eventually got a job as a truck driver. Two years later, Henry missed his family so badly and decided to make amends for his terrible actions. But when he arrived at the house, he was shocked to find a lively scene unfolding in the front yard.
“Hey, what’s happening here?” he asked one of the children playing nearby.
The little one looked up at him with wide eyes and a bright smile. “It’s April’s third birthday!” the child exclaimed.
Henry’s heart sank as he realized that he didn’t even know it was his daughter’s birthday. He watched as Scarlett and April, dressed in beautiful matching pink gowns, came out of the house. Following closely behind them was a young man, who affectionately kissed Scarlett’s forehead and lovingly carried April in his arms.
Overwhelmed with shame and regret, Henry couldn’t bring himself to walk up to his family. Instead, he found a quiet corner and watched them from afar as tears dripped from his eyes. It was a painful realization that, due to his greed and covetousness, he had lost everything that truly mattered.
At that moment, he accepted that he was the architect of his own doom. If he had the chance, he would turn back the hands of time and act reasonably. But now, he had to face the consequences of his actions.
With a heavy heart, Henry left the scene, knowing that he had forfeited his place in their lives. He began the long journey of self-reflection and self-improvement, determined to rebuild himself from the ground up.
Scarlett, surrounded by love and support, continued to raise April with unwavering dedication. The young man who stood by her side was Oliver, a kind and caring soul who had come into their lives during their darkest moments. He had shown Scarlett and April the love and stability they deserved, and together, they created a happy and nurturing home.
As the years went by, Henry found solace in the lessons he learned from his mistakes. He let go of his materialistic desires and focused on personal growth, finding fulfillment in meaningful work and genuine connections with others.
Although he could never erase the pain he had caused, Henry dedicated himself to being a better person. He reached out to Scarlett and April, expressing his sincere remorse and desire to make amends. It was a slow and challenging process, but with time, trust began to mend, and a fragile bond formed between Henry and his daughter.
Scarlett, being a woman of compassion and forgiveness, recognized the genuine change in Henry’s heart. She cautiously allowed him back into their lives, albeit with clear boundaries and ongoing therapy for all involved. It was a difficult path, marked by setbacks and doubts, but they all remained committed to healing and rebuilding their shattered family.
