How can something so ordinary turn into a storm?
Joshua sat on the couch that morning, shocked. Dressed in his blazer and with a shoelace in his hand. He was already late for work.
“Must you always leave the dishes for me?” Simi asked, standing by the sink, water dripping from her hands.
Joshua didn’t bother to look up from the shoelace he was tying. He had tiredness written all over his face, not from working but from the baseless quarrels that seemed to have become a routine.
“Simi, please, not this morning. I’m already late.”
“Late, late, late. Tired, tired, tired. Or even busy, busy but sorry.”
He stood up with so much force that Simi sauntered a bit. Sharp veins protrude from his forehead. “Stop nagging me! I'm tired of your ‘I don’t do anything in this house’. You nag a lot!”
He grabbed his bag and stormed out of the house leaving his words hanging in the air. He banged the door so hard that Simi flinched.
She turned to face the door, then she pressed her lips together, eyes wet but defiant. She checked the time, it was almost time for her presentation at work. Her moods were already messed up. She wondered how she was going to concentrate on her presentation when memories of what Joshua just did were fresh in her mind. She leaned in the sink and took a deep breath, then she dried her hands, grabbed her car keys, and left the house. Sadly, she just couldn't get her mind to focus on her day.
It was a rainy evening. Joshua was just rounding up for the day when his phone rang. He checked, and it was an unknown number. He almost didn’t pick up, he wasn't the kind who answered calls from random numbers. But, this time, something in him did.
“Are you Mr Joshua, husband to Mrs. Simi Joshua?” The voice on the other end asked in a very calm tone.
He pulled the phone off his ear and stared at it as if he could see the caller on the screen.
"Yes“ he dragged.
"There’s been an accident. She’s at General Hospital.”
He dropped his phone and stared at the wall. Quickly, he ran out of his office without locking the door or even packing his bags. He ran straight into the rain and into his car. His clothes were drenched.
The hospital had wet floors, and foot stamps as he ran into the building dripping. The sharp smell of antiseptic and methylated spirit fills the air. He stumbled through corridors and wards calling out his wife's name. He almost collided with a nurse on duty.
“Sorry, I'm looking for my wife, Simi, a tall dark woman involved in an accident." He asked almost in tears.
Pointing upstairs. "Ward Three,” the nurse said, her eyes softening with pity.
"Thank you."
He pushed through the swinging doors, jumped the stairs, and called out her name. But by the time he found the ward, it was already over.
He met a nurse covering up her still body on the bed with a white sheet. He pulled the sheet off and looked her in the face. Her skin was already pale and her eyes were without life.
"The men who brought her in said something about a reckless driver. She died of a head trauma." The nurse muttered. "I'm sorry, sir." She added.
Joshua dropped to his knees. Rainwater from his clothes dripped on the floor.
Like a movie, his last words to her replayed in his head. Not something sweet. Not a reassurance of his love for her but
"I'm tired of your ‘I don’t do anything in this house’. You nag a lot!" If only he knew. Now, that would be a curse he would live with all the days of his life. A sharp blade of anger from his tongue.
He held her already cold hands and whispered, “I’m sorry. I didn't mean those words. Please, come back.”
But it had no meaning anymore.
Outside, the rain fell harder, like a symphony to the heartbroken. The clock kept ticking. Time kept moving.
A fateful day in his life with two chapters he'd never forget. His words before Simi died, and his regrets after Simi died.