“Waking up With Jane”

As I drove to work, I couldn’t stop thinking of her fragrance and how it filled my nostrils as I went from the hall to the steps leading up to our bedroom. Was Sara in my house last night? Certainly not. I would surely not have tried to bring her here. Surely it was just her fragrance on me. I had cheated with her last night at the motel after having drinks together. Yes, the fragrance surely came from our little tryst. I should tell Jane, but I’m such a coward.

I pulled into the parking lot and felt the butterflies moving around in my stomach. I was working in this office for ten years now, and there was no reason to be this nervous. But it was all about Sara, my secretary since I started here. I wondered what kind of looks she would give me. What I needed to tell her about maybe breaking it off between us and giving my marriage one more shot. Or would I just keep on with Sara and say nothing until this all blew up in everyone’s face?

I pulled into my parking spot designated just for Mark Jenkins, CEO. I parked the car and got my briefcase and keys, locking the door behind me and walked to the office. Heading into the front office, I didn’t see Sara, but I just thought maybe she would be back putting papers on my desk. I walked back to my office sharing the usual greetings of the morning to those I saw. When I got there, I saw nothing of Sara.

I went back to the front counter and asked Judy Branca, the receptionist, if she heard from Sara.  She said Sara called in sick.

“She sounded bad,” Judy added. “So bad in fact, her voice just didn’t sound like her at all.”

“Okay, there’s a pretty good bug going around right now,” I replied.

I turned and headed back to my office. Sara was rarely sick and rarely ever called in, well, she usually would call in to me, not Judy. She didn’t sound sick last night. Something just didn’t feel right, but I promised Jane I would be home early, so I better get to work and get some things done. There were just too many things I couldn’t recall about last night. I had to find out from the beginning just what happened. I sat down and started to work.

* * * * * *

Jane Jenkins had plans for her husband tonight. Plans her husband, Mark Jenkins would never forget. She felt Mark’s detachment from her, and she didn’t like it. Last night was just the beginning and biting his lip when she kissed him this morning was an indication. She would show him what she was capable of all along and make him regret he ignored her for so long. She knew she had this hunger inside her. Last night was just the beginning of feeding herself, and she would feed off the very same hunger. A hunger for more than sex. Something much more.

Two years ago, they fell into a bad rut. She no longer seemed to be interesting to Mark and he often went out at night, seeking other ways to have fun. It might have been drinks with the guys from the office, or chasing other women, but Jane was no fool and saw their romance fading into the woodwork. She wanted to do something about their relationship.

But last night, well, last night was different. She no longer sat back, sulking in her own pity. Jane thought it was time to take some action.

Her actions last night not only stimulated her into coming out of her funk, but her actions also titillated her sexually. Jane liked how anger and rage made her feel. She was gaining something she had lost long ago to her CEO husband. It was POWER. Mark stole it from her long ago, never realizing she had her own potential within. He did it on purpose because he was selfish and wanted her to think HE was necessary for HER to exist. Tonight, she would wield power he had never seen before.

* * * * * *

I worked for an hour, mostly with the distraction of Sara on my mind. I thought better of it, but I have to text her, just to know she was okay.

ARE YOU OKAY? I pushed send.

A minute, then two minutes, then my phone pinged.

YES, I AM FINE. JUST A BAD COLD.

GOOD, I WAS WORRIED. I HAVE SOMETHING I HAVE TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT. I pushed send again.

IF IT WAS ABOUT LAST NIGHT, YOU WERE SO GOOD. OUR SEX TOGETHER HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER. YOU WERE SOOOO GOOD.

HAVE TO GO OUT WITH JANE TONIGHT. CAN WE MEET TOMORROW?

My phone pinged again. SURE, BUT DON’T HAVE TOO MUCH FUN. SAVE YOUR BEST FOR ME.

I put the phone down on my desk and covered my eyes with both hands, pressing against my eyeballs to make the pain go away. The hangover was still pretty bad, but I had one more day to make a decision. It had to be one or the other. Jane or Sara. I couldn’t keep this up any longer. I had to choose. Jane or Sara was the burning question.

I left for home around three-thirty in the afternoon. I had not talked to Sara and the temptation to call her was there. But I resisted as I wasn’t too far from the house. The text and the fact she texted back to me had to do for now. I pulled into my driveway at the same time I had told Jane I would be home.

When I got inside, the music was playing upstairs and I assumed Jane was up there getting ready.

“Honey, I’m home,” I called out, setting my briefcase on the Parson’s Bench by the coat rack in the hall.

” Hey there,” she replied, looking down to me from above as she looked more remarkable in just a towel than I can ever remember. Her tan body wrapped in just a white towel. “I thought you might want to have a little peek,” as she stood there, facing me and opening her white towel to reveal to me her naked self, and then quickly covering back up. “I know I can be such a tease, but I just had to give you some indication of what our date night will be like tonight.” Jane licked her lips and smiled.

“All I can say to how you look is, well, wow!” I exclaimed as I scurried up the steps to meet her. I kissed her and she threw her arms around my neck. Her wet towel, rubbing against my white shirt belied the heat coming from her tan and naked skin. Jane had never been this hot for the past year. I barely recall anything this steamy in our ten years of marriage. I felt so hot, I barely felt my cut lip from this morning. I was starting to sweat.

Jane pulled away gently and looked into my eyes with a look I am sure I never encountered from her before. It was mesmerizing. “You don’t want us to miss dinner, now do you?” she asked.

“Of course not. I’ll jump in the shower in just a second. But first I need one more look at you. Your face, it’s so stunning and beautiful. Your smile is one I haven’t seen in such a long time.”

We walked back into the bedroom together and I held her close to kiss her once more. This question, this burning question in my mind. I know what we have been through these past years. Is it really going to change? Is Jane really coming around? Is this what I really want and is going to change on Monday? I shook off the thoughts.

I hurried into the shower, toweling off quickly and dressing in a casual style, a white open-collar shirt, a pair of black slacks, and a black sport coat. Jane was already dressed and looking gorgeous in a short, black dress with the hemline well above the knee and a necklace I gave her many Christmases ago. She never looked this stunning to me since our wedding day.

We left the house, locked the door, and drove to our favorite restaurant, Montalto’s. Jane held my hand most of the way and, at times, she seemed to almost squeeze it too hard. I took it to mean she was wanting our relationship to work. Maybe she felt this chance was one she didn’t want to screw up. I don’t know, but I was liking this Jane

We were seated at a table facing the lighted, busy street.  The white lights shining on Jane’s face through the front window of the restaurant gave her an appearance of pure elegance. Her face seemed to be the one I married ten years ago. She looked so alive and vibrant.

We had appetizers, an entrée and had just finished dessert over very stimulating conversation, when the light changed from bright white to an angry red. Must have been a police car or ambulance, but suddenly, I saw something different in her eyes as I paid the check with a card and waited for the server to return.

“Jane, are you okay?” I asked, laying my hand over the top of hers.

She instinctively pulled her hand away from mine. Something she had done a lot of lately. “Look, if you don’t feel well, we can leave if you like.”

“I’m fine, really. What makes you think I’m not okay? I’m just making plans in my head for you, dear. Plans we have never participated in during our whole marriage, sexy, powerful plans.”

“It was a look on your face. You didn’t look happy.”

“Oh, but I am, dear, I’m happy just being here with you,” she said smiling and showing teeth, somehow oddly reflecting the red flashing light on her white teeth making them appear, well, bloody. This was a far cry from when she had nothing on but a towel upstairs in our home earlier. She leaned towards me, her bright, red teeth glistening with what appeared to be blood.

I cringed but caught myself. I’m sure it’s just the guilt I’m feeling about Sara, I thought. Jane certainly was not capable of anything mean or vicious. I kept thinking how this whole affair I was having with Sara wasn’t fair to Jane. I either had to tell her about Sara, or just concentrate on being a better husband to Jane. Red teeth, bloody teeth. Uh oh, am I really here or is this just another illusion? What’s happening? I quickly erased the thoughts and leaned in closer to Jane, smelling her fragrance. I immediately got a lump in my throat.

“Let’s go home,” I whispered to her softly. “I’m feeling something very powerful for you and I don’t want to lose the moment.”

“Yes, let’s do. I’m feeling very warm, and the movie can wait for another day. I’m getting downright hot for you, my handsome CEO. I have something planned for you. You’re going to love it.” Jane said with a voice of an angel.

My thoughts were laser-focused on Sara’s perfume I smelled on Jane. The fragrance brought a lump to my throat. Surely it was just my olfactory sense playing with my mind. Or was it? Then I thought once again, “Red Teeth…  Red Teeth.”

Jane rubbed my arm all the way home, moving up to my shoulders then my neck, and then rubbing my thigh, close to my crotch. She leaned over and kissed my ear. I was getting to the point where we needed to be home. I was feeling Jane’s hunger and sensing some urgency in her. Maybe Jane was wanting me too. Possibly, we could go back to the early years of our marriage, where we didn’t make love but consumed each other. Was this really happening?

We walked from the garage into our lovely home and headed up the steps to our bedroom. Jane immediately stepped out of her black dress and went to the bathroom to fill our jacuzzi tub and place some candles around it. She came back out of the bathroom as water continued to run in the jacuzzi. Jane next turned on some music on our home speaker system, jazz, very sultry and mood-enhancing.

Jane had maintained her body over the years, and she looked so fit and tan. It must have been something I had ignored for a while during my affair with Sara. How did we get this far off and now come back full circle? Does she know about Sara, and she is now trying to win me back? Surely, she doesn’t know. She looks so good.

I quickly undressed too, and Jane, still in her underwear and bra, went downstairs to get us a drink. While she was gone, I caught a lingering smell of the perfume again, the one Sara wore the last time we were together. I know this can’t be, but the fragrance smelled very real, and it was on Jane. My nostrils were not playing tricks on me. It was totally entrenched in my mind. How could Jane be wearing Sara’s perfume?

Suddenly Jane reappeared with two drinks in hand. She was totally naked now and headed right past me to the bathroom. She set the two drinks on the edge of the tub and turned off the water. She turned to look at me and smiled, “Well, aren’t you going to join me?”

I quickly took off my boxers and headed to the tub and slipped into the hot water with bubbles on top from the jacuzzi jets. Jane got in and sat opposite me. Her red lips were inviting as I took a few sips of my scotch and Jane a long swig of her wine. She raised her eyebrows as she looked deeply into my eyes. “So, how do you like date night so far, my handsome husband?”

“I’m loving it,” I replied setting my drink down on the tub’s edge. I leaned in closer to her, wanting to kiss her. The warm water stimulating my whole body and the jacuzzi jets massaging us both. She leaned in close, kissing me gently at first and then even more passionately. The kiss seemed at least a minute long.

“The perfume you are wearing, is it new?” I asked, taking another long drink of the scotch.

“Yes, I bought it just for you this morning while you were at work. Do you like it?” Jane whispered, exposing her neck to me and I leaned in to kiss her.

“I love it. It’s intoxicating,” I said, rubbing the inner parts of her thighs. Sara’s perfume.

I took my hands from under the water and brushed her bangs from her eyes. I knew the burning question would haunt me, but I had to decide. I couldn’t keep this charade going on forever. It was now or never. I had to make this decision soon. Jane looked perfect tonight, and it seems I need to know this new Jane, one I don’t remember, or in fact, never was. Something had changed and so far, it all seemed to be for the better.

“Let’s go to the bed,” she cooed, and, in an instant, we both hurried out of the tub to dry off. I felt a sudden dizziness when I got up, but just passed it off as the scotch taking effect and being in the hot water. I walked to the bed and sat down on the edge. Jane slid over from her side of the bed and sitting up massaging my neck and shoulders. I was feeling more than a drink’s effect. I began to see the room spinning and then the lights seemed to go on and off. What is going on? I turned to Jane, wanting to see something in her eyes that could help me.

“Jane, I think something is wrong. Maybe you should call 911,” I said hurriedly as the spinning was becoming more pronounced. The whirling of the room’s furniture, looking like a tilt-a whirl, came rushing at me from all sides. I closed my eyes yet heard Jane’s voice

“Sure, baby, sure,” she said as she grabbed her phone. “Hello, 911, I think my husband is having a heart attack.” Jane quickly blurted out the address and set the phone down.

My world was getting black, and I thought in this very moment I was dying.

I know I was hearing it in a dream. The voices were clear. A man’s voice. “Now, that should about do it.”

My mind was foggy, and I tried to lift my head off the pillow to look around and focus on what was blurry. I was struggling to open my eyes and I couldn’t get the blurry images to become clear. Something was on my hands and my legs. Was I in the hospital? I tried to move but I couldn’t. There was something pulling on my legs and arms. I tried to fight harder, but my body was too sluggish to do anything.

I looked over to my left and the smell, wafting through my nostrils… perfume? No, this just couldn’t be. It was the smell of the same perfume. Sara’s perfume? Jane’s? Where in the hell was I? There was Jane, sitting up in bed, her naked breasts exposed. This was Déjà vu.

“You were so good last night,” Jane said noticing my look of disbelief and horror. “Why, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” She chuckled. “You don’t remember, do you? You do remember date night and taking me to dinner, don’t you, and how you took a nice jacuzzi with me when we got home? You wanted to go to the bed with me, but you thought you were ill. You wanted me to call 911. Remember?”

But you did, I heard your voice telling them our address. I heard you!”

“Yes, dear, you did. But I pretended to dial. I never called 911. It was only the effect of the sleeping pills in your drink making you pass out and now, here you are my love. If you still wanted the sex, I guess it’s too bad as you’re a little tied up right now.” Jane threw her head back and laughed loudly at her joke.

“Jane, what’s happening? What’s going on?”

“Oh, just here to see if you can answer the burning question my love.”

“What burning question?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Mark. I knew you and Sara had a thing going. Jeff here told me all about it. Seems he followed you and Sara to your little trysts at those seedy motels. I didn’t believe him at first. Then he actually took me there and removed all my doubt.”

“Jeff Painter? Sara’s husband, Jeff?” I asked. I started to get my feeling back in my body and looked down to see all I had on was a towel laying across my groin area and my hands and feet were tied to the bedposts. I was still too sluggish to struggle. I felt helpless and began to feel sweat running down my forehead into my eyes, making them burn.

“Don’t look so surprised, Mark.” I followed you and Sara to those places. Jane never believed me, but I took her with me once to follow you and Sara. She didn’t believe me until I showed her what a prick you were,” Jeff said clearly and with an edge of hate in his voice. “So, we teamed up that night, drugged you, and I went home to see Sara and confront her.”

“So, where’s Sara?” I asked looking at Jane and then back at Jeff. “What did you do with her?”

“Oh, she’s here. She’s just fine. In fact, she’s right here in the room with you,” Jane said getting up from the bed and putting on her robe. “It’s your burning question, isn’t it, Mark? It was going to be the discussion at some point, right? You, telling me how wonderful she was to you, and you were going to leave me for her,” Jane said, her voice gaining in volume with each word.

I looked around for Sara. There was no Sara to be found.

“Mark you are so unaware. Just like you were with me. Never focusing on me, looking all around me until you found someone better, someone who could meet your needs. Well, it’s just too bad you can’t have her. See, the answer to your burning question of whether it’s me or Sara, is you get neither. Looking all around, all around for your poor Sara, but there she is right next to you! Look, Mark!” she yelled pointing to her left.

I finally turned my head to the side far enough to see the body, wrapped in cellophane, and tied to a chair. The legs sticking straight out from rigor mortis. The face, so blue and so lifeless was Sara’s face. Cuts on her face and dried blood showing through the cellophane. The needles pricking my skin at the sight of dead Sara wrapped in cellophane, made my heart skip a beat “What did you both do?” I questioned, trying to free myself from the ropes, tying me to the bed.

“It was easy, once you got home,” Jane said. “I drugged your water you keep on the nightstand. You drank it, then you fell asleep. The sleeping pills made your hangover the next day so oppressive. It is the plan I told you about at dinner last night. Quite a plan, don’t you think, Mark?”

Therefore, you woke up with Jane, not Sara. It was the reason why you were confused when you woke up,” Jeff said grinning with evil in his eyes. “Thought you were supposed to wake up in bed with my wife. Instead, you woke up in your own bed with your own wife. You were so disoriented you had no idea where you were. It was a nice plan. I did kill Sara at home and then brought her here. I confronted her about you, Mark, and she tried to lie. It was one thing to catch you both, but I just couldn’t take the lies anymore. I was putting your affair with my wife to an end.”

“But I texted her, she texted back, she was still alive!” I exclaimed, beginning to sweat profusely at the thought I would be the next to die.

“I texted you back, my love,” Jane said. “I had Sara’s phone. Jeff brought it to me when you left for work. It was just to keep you in the game long enough. I am much too weak to hold you or tie you up. Here’s where my new partner, Jeff, worked into the plan. He did a great job of securing you to the bed, tying Sara’s dead and stiff body to the chair, and finally well, I was going to let him kill you for me. But you see at this point, I feel the strength you wouldn’t give me. The fact you always thought I was weak, and you could have me do anything, as long as it suited you. Only what YOU wanted, well, I have the power over YOU now. There’s nothing you can do. If only you could have seen it years ago, if only you would have loved me completely and never strayed. If only you would have given me the power and let me love you, I wouldn’t have had to do this.”

Jane walked over to Jeff, who handed her the gleaming, long-bladed knife. She gripped the handle as Jeff had told her to. It was the same way he gripped the knife when he had killed Sara Friday night. Now, she was about to do something she thought she would never be able to do, until I cheated on her. She stood over me, staring down with her smile. Red Teeth. I was fearful and Jane could see it in my eyes. It was exactly what she wanted. I smelled her fragrance, Sara’s fragrance. I looked over at Sara’s cellophane-wrapped body, the blue face, and looked back to Jane.

“Please, no, don’t do this!”

Oh, now you want to make up to me?”

“You know I love you…  you just, just…  didn’t respond to me,” I stuttered.

Jane mimicked me, “You… just… just quit wanting to sleep with me. You wanted all the power. You wanted to control me. Now hold still and it will be less painful.”

My body tried to move side to side away from the point of the knife slowly descending to my chest. She started to carve, and I gritted my teeth. I wanted to jump but was afraid she would plunge the knife into me. She carved out a “J” and the drops of blood began to ooze out of the shallow cuts.

“There you go. ‘J’, that’s for me. She carved out an “S” next, and more blood came oozing out. Of course, ‘S’ is for Sara.  Now a question mark. Talking through clenched teeth, I asked her why?  “Why the question mark?”

Jane smiled and answered, “It’s the burning question, right.? Jane or Sara, Sara or Jane.? Here let me answer it for you, dear Mark.  The answer is neither!!  You get neither, you asshole!” Her voice had elevated to nearly a scream. “Jeff has me now, and you could have had me. Once I knew you were cheating on me, I never wanted you back. I just wanted to kill you! I wanted the power; I needed the power. You were too self-absorbed to give it to me. So, I’m taking it now.  No going back, no starting over. You get nothing, Mark, except what you have coming to you.”

“Finish him, do it now!” Jeff bellowed as he moved closer to see this with his own eyes. “Look, you forgot the point of the question mark. How ironic, the question, MARK!” Jeff laughed hideously, and I saw nothing but pure and unadulterated evil in his eyes. He stepped forward putting his evil face right in front of my own.

“I see, Jeff, I left it undone,” Jane said, and she drove the blade deep into Mark’s stomach, finishing off the point of the question mark in dramatic fashion. She twisted the blade and removed it slowly from Mark’s abdomen. Blood was flowing freely now, and I couldn’t breathe. I was losing blood quickly and there wasn’t anyone who could possibly hear me if I screamed as the music had been turned up very loud. “Goodbye, Mark,” Jane said as she handed the knife over to Jeff who ended Mark’s life cutting his throat from ear to ear. Blackness. Mark was no more.