Who Knew

   I walk in to the kitchen, and I head straight for the cabinet.  I was sort of in a hurry because I had an important business meeting in half an hour, but my throat was so very dry.  I giggle as I step up onto my toes, "this is so ridiculous," I say out loud.  I am wearing these impossibly tall heels and I still have to stand on my toes to reach in my own cabinet.  I grab the first glass I see, pink with green and blue flowers on it, it was my favorite. I start towards the sink, just a quick drink of water and I'll be on my way.  But I trip, I nearly caught myself with my right foot but my heel broke.  "Damn it," was the first thing to come out of my mouth, I paid way too much money for those shoes.  But the shoes were the last thing on my mind when I turned to look at what I had tripped on.
     I gasp and jump backwards, I hit my back on the counter, but I payed to attention to that.  On the floor, right in front of me, was a body, surrounded by it's own puddle of blood, it lay there so cold and alone.  I wasn't afraid, I'd seen dead bodies all the time in the paper.  Startled is what I was, and after I realized what it was, and saw the expression on his face, I felt sad.  Who knew that a dead body in the middle of my kitchen could make me sad, and not scared.  He wasn't old, probably in his mid-thirties, no, maybe late. 
     Looking at him more I realized that I had never met this man before, but he was in my house.  What reason would a man, whom I had no connection with, come to die in my house? And more than that, how did he die?  I knew immediately that I should call the police, find out who it was and then they could find out how it was he died.  But I couldn't help but hesitate, his eyes, not scared, not even remotely surprised.  They were knowing somehow, but knowing what?  I was lost in everything, in his eyes, in the wonder of why he was here and, who he was. 
    I began to cry, for no apparent reason I began to cry.  I looked up for only a moment and saw a paper in his left hand.  I reached out and grabbed it, I had to know, know whatever it was that was on this paper, in the hand of this stranger who is dead in the middle of my kitchen.  I grabbed it, opening his cold fingers only a little so as to not rip it.  I was neatly folded, not crumpled up like it always is in the movies, that told me that he wasn't in a rush when any of this happened.  I opened only one fold of it, and saw writing, it was ... It was my name.  Written neatly and cleanly in blue pen, my name.  I looked at the body in aw, for only a second. 
   I turned back to the paper and unfolded it the rest of the way.  It was a letter, to me.  I began to read it:


Dear Angie,

           You probably don't know me, if you did you probably wouldn't be reading this right now.  The truth is you don't really know anybody around you, not your work associates, or your local grocer boys, not even me, you're own boyfriend.  Yes, that's right, the dead man on your floor, the one you don't even recognize is your boyfriend.  We've been together for 6 months and the whole time you never even knew me.  You rush through life, you pay so much attention to the money, and the things that you don't even realize the other things around you.  Well I couldn't face life without you, but I couldn't get you to listen.  I loved you, I needed you, but you never needed me.  So I hope you're happy with the life you have, but I hope this will cause you to open your eyes to the things that really matter. 

   My jaw dropped, I had a boyfriend?  I thought back to the past 6 months of my life, and realized that I couldn't remember the last 6 weeks other than business.  That's all I had.  I wiped my eyes, I looked at the smeared make up and the tear stains that just ruined my new white outfit, and began to cry even more.  He was right, what had I done to myself? What kind of life was I living if I didn't even notice that I had probably one of the best men in my life.  He killed himself for me. 
    Who knew that it would take a dead man in my kitchen to make me see my own life.  Who knew that a man was even in my life.  Who knew that I had no life.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them I was in my bed, still crying.  I sat up, and looked around me, I saw a man laying next to me in bed, the same face, the same knowing look.  "Josh," I said aloud, his name was Josh.  And I had been with him for 6 months, and I loved him.  I laid back down, resting my head on his chest.  I thought about that important business meeting I had in the morning, and I decided I wasn't going.  I was going to the beach, with my boyfriend ...
Who knew, that a dream could change a life. 
Who knew, that you could not know your own life.
Obviously, someone did.

Reviews

[Eric Cox]

This is cool. It started out as a mystery then the reader learns it was a dream and discovers the meaningful message at the end, the character realizes the most important thing in life is the one she loves and the dream came from someone of a higher power. This is all written so well, an excellent story. Very nicely done.

[Matthew Ian Herrawood W]

DAMN!!! powerful read.this is a very powerful read. It was good the way it started the way it ended. it was very enjoyable.

[Black Cat Fever]

A very dark, clever and creative way to get a very very important message across. This would be a nice movie plot.

[Tina Kline]

Great story and a great lesson. We all should really look at what is truly important in our lives and pay a lot of attention to those things. Fantastic job on this write.