"The Treadmill"

The Treadmill”

By Cody Williams

 

            Rodney Mathews stood nude on the scales while leaning over as far as he could to see the numbers because of his big gut. 307 the scales read and he stepped off of them.

            “S**t.” He said with disappointment. He walked out of the bathroom to his and his wife’s bedroom. On the queen size bed where they used to make love laid a pair of gray sweat pants and a gray sweatshirt. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He glanced over at the nightstand beside the bed where he was a picture of him, his wife Shirley, and his brother Marco. The picture angered him. His eyes began to tear up. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and then opened his eyes again. The truth is it made him sick to his stomach to see her with him. They act like nothing happened. Hell, he’s not even sure if they know he knows…he’s not even sure if it’s true…but how could it not be?

            All three of their relationships have changed ever since he began putting on the weight. He wasn’t always this big. He sure as hell wasn’t when he met Shirley. But he couldn’t help it.

            Honestly nothing was right ever since the baby died. Rodney began to lock himself in his office to write while also stuffing his face more and more. The truth is he didn’t really want to talk about it. So she did the thing I guess she could think of. She turned to his brother.

            Every now and then he looks at that shotgun that was mounted on the wall in his office and thinks about ending it. But he’s never been a quitter. He thought if he lost the weight he could be the man that she deserved. He slipped on the warm up pants and the sweatshirt and stood from the bed. Rodney then walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen.

            “Hey honey! Are you going to work out?” Shirley asked him.

            “Yes!” Rodney replied as he turned his back to her and walked towards the basement door.

            “That’s great! I think it’s great that you are finally thinking about taking care of yourself!” She told him. He turned the doorknob and shut the door behind him while beginning to walk down the stairs.

            That’s right you stupid selfish b***h! I’m doing this all for you! You stupid selfish little f**k! He thought to himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs. When he stepped down onto the cold concrete basement floor, he flipped on the light switch that was to his right. He looked around as dust particles flew into the air. Then he looked across the room to a treadmill. He walked over to it and stepped on to it. He rests his feet on the sides as he turned on the machine.

            It was an older model of treadmill. It just had a silver switch to the side of it and had and handle with a black knot to twist that controls the speed. He but his feet on the conveyer belt and began to walk. He reached up grabbing the knob and he turned it to his left increasing the speed. He looked down at the screen where there was a message typed out on it. It read:

 

Rodney,

I congratulate you on trying to get back in shape for your wife! Bravo to you! However, you should know that your marriage has been over for a long time. It’s time for you to step aside and let her move on. Obviously, you have no intention of doing that…so I decided to help you a little bit. The speed of the treadmill will increase every minute until you finally fall from it. As soon as you get off of it, it will self-destruct. Sorry, but it’s time for you to move on!

 

            Rodney felt a lump in his throat as chills ran up and down his spine. He saw the knob began to slowly move towards the right as the speed began to increase. Rodney began running and trying to push any button he could to stop the machine. But he couldn’t. The machine began to get faster and faster when it occurred to him.

            If I turn the machine off, I might be able to get off of it. He thought to himself. The machine was moving so fast he could hardly stay on it. He reached up and leaped flipping the silver switch turning off the treadmill. Nothing happened. He caught his breath and fell down on the machine. He wiped the sweat from his face and pulled himself to his feet. He then stepped off of the treadmill and placed his foot on the cold concrete floor. That’s when the explosion happened. The house he and his wife built together became overwhelmed with flames. Flames so bright they could be seen from Marco’s house across town.

            Marco and Shirley gazed out the window at the flames with huge smiles on their face. They raised their glasses of champagne and toated.

            “We did it! Now we can finally get on with our lives!” Shirley said happily as she and Marco began to kiss. They looked back at the window with sick satisfying smiles.

Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams

Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS

A division of TTP Entertainment

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Author's Note

This is a story that has been on mind for a long time. I hope you guys enjoy it. Comments are always welcome! Thanks for reading!

-CW

Reviews

[M. L. Zane]

Hello Cody. As always, you summon, and I arrive. First, I'm gonna plug a little. Song of Sinai is done. Currently out on Amazon's Kindle store. Check it out. I think you'll enjoy it greatly.

Anyway, enough plug. I'm really a bit confused as to what happened in this story. I can't really get into it due to my confusion; did the house blow up of it's own accord, or was it intentional? It isn't real clear, and that makes it hard for me to keep interest. You'll definitely want to make it more clear; show exactly what happened. Leave nothing up to doubt.

You've also improved during my absence over your details. There's more of it here, and that is extremely refreshing. I'd still like to see a sconch more (sweat, in this case), but progress is progress and should never be discounted.

Beyond that, not much else to say. I'm still down for editing work, and you should check out Song of Sinai. I think you'll greatly enjoy it, and you'll know it when you see it.

Regards,
-M.L. Zane

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading ML! I'll be sure to check out your new book. The house in the story blew up because the treadmill self destructed.

As for editing, I'll send you some more stuff in time.

Thanks again for reading!

-CW

[Nia Hope]

Short and...well not so sweet but it was an amazing read (then again I don't expect anything different)

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Ankara!

-CW

[Nia Hope]

Anytime Cody and sorry I haven't been on lately school has been the definition of chaos lol

[Cody Williams]

Believe me, I understand.

[Blue]

Cody, I was appalled! How cruel. You stirred mixed emotions within me which only means that you did an excellent job on this! Wonderful work. Keep writing.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks so much for reading!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

An excellent story teller you are along with the powerful elements you include. I think your future is bright...I really enjoyed this one...:)...........

[Cody Williams]

Thanks so much for reading Sami! It really means a lot!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

My pleasure. Any time...:).....................

[Marie]

At first I thought this was a demonized treadmill; then I suspected that Shirly and Marco had something to do with it. I can certainly relate to this story. Twice I have been caught on a speeding treadmill and been nable to stop it. I had to be dragged to safety. Terrifying.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Marie! I'm glad you liked it!

-CW

[Michael Stevens]

Scary to think of your exercise equipment doing that to you; that's exactly why I avoid exercise!

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Michael!

-CW

[Dayran]

As a representation of work and the daily grind ... a man puts himself into ... the treadmill is an excellent representation of the experience. Certainly we do it for our loved ones ... but we also do it for ourselves. At least from now on ... he doesn't have to worry about his diet. Nice work.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[DIVYA]

Oh my God. I did enjoy it though I did not want to. What a sad end... :(
This read was fast paced, thrilling and kept me glued. Thanks for sharing.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading!

-CW

[DIVYA]

:) My pleasure.
Have a lovely day.

[Clara]

At the start, I sympathized with Rodney and how he felt about knowing about his wife's affair with his own brother. However, I found it disjointed that while he was so heartbroken over this fact, that he would cuss at his wife when she spoke to him. I would have thought that he would be more upset than angry. He seemed to, at least at that point, to have more than one personality which didn't seem consistent with his character.

I also thought that there could have been more background on the treadmill. Where did it come from? Has he always had it? If it was an older model, do they have fancy message screens? I'm not sure... I think you have a good basis for a story but it needs to be expanded on. Give more background about the characters, their motives and maybe a bit more history about their past interaction which may explain their current situation. Otherwise, an interesting story and twist. :)

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Lola! The treadmill that I based this model on is one that belongs to my grandmother. It was almost identical to this one and is from the 90s. it does have a small screen at the center of it. I never knew what the screen was for because ever since I had used it, it never worked. So I just used my imagination to fill in that one. Thanks again for reading!

-CW

[Angel]

Now, that is a terrifying tale, Cody. A tale of murder and passion that would make old Alfred Hitchcock proud.
And, you know...I didn't notice even one single error. Of course, I wasn't exactly looking for them...but still, I think you did a great job with this tale of terror.

[Cody Williams]

Many thanks for reading Angel!

-CW

[Angel]

I enjoyed it, Cody, and I thank you for sharing your terror tales. However, I'm not reading any more of them till morning...your stuff tends to give this poor ol' lady nightmares...and it would be terrible if I woke up in a wet bed...

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for sticking with me Angel!