Tell Me a Lie in a Beautiful Way

"So, you ready to tell me what yesterday was really about yet?" I asked him the next morning while we were still lying in bed. I knew it was a good time to ask him because he was barely awake and couldn't think about it too much. He looked at me with his beautiful crystal green eyes and for a moment they were sad.

"I don't want someone else telling us how to run our marriage, okay? You know, we were both in therapy for so long and spent so long having a stranger tell us essentially how we should be living our lives, and I don't think we need it in our marriage too," he told me, and for a moment it seemed like a solid explanation. Then my mind rewound to the 'were' part.

"Wait. We 'were' both in therapy? Are we not currently both in therapy?" I asked him and he looked at me like I'd just said the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

"What?" he asked, and his tone instantly told me I was right.

"Zack," I said his name, motioning for him to speak more.

"Yeah, fine, okay? I stopped going," he said, annoyed.

"Why?" I asked him, genuinely curious.

"Because it wasn't helping me anymore. I didn't need it," he said the words, but part of me didn't really believe he thought they were true.

"Okay. That's your decision. But the marriage counseling? That's something I'm really thinking we need," I told him and he shrugged slightly.

"We can figure it out on our own," he said in a nonchalant tone that instantly made me angry.

"I'm sorry you're so nonchalant about our entire fucking lives, Zack," I told him, the words spilling out before I could really stop them. I wasn't sure how he'd react to them, but the way he did surprised me. He just sat there staring at me for a moment and then, without a word, he got out of bed, got dressed, and left the room. I heard the front door of the house slam shut a minute later. I went to the window and watched as his car backed out of the driveway.

"Goddamn it," I whispered to myself, plopping back down into the bed.



He didn't come back for the rest of that day. I called around to all of his friends the next morning and none of them had seen him and he wasn't answering his phone either. I guess I wasn't totally surprised - it wasn't the first time he'd decided to disappear for a few days. For some reason, though, this time felt different. I had a really awful feeling in the pit of my stomach about the whole thing.

A few hours later, the bad feeling proved to be valid. My cell phone rang on the table beside me and I snatched it up quickly.

"Hello?!"

"Mrs. Baker?" a female voice that I didn't recognize asked.

"Yes?"

"My name is Alicia. I'm a nurse at Huntington General Hospital. I'm calling to let you know that your husband Zack was in a car accident last night," she told me and my whole body felt like it was going numb.

"Is he okay?" I asked her, tears instantly rising to my eyes.

"He has quite a few broken bones. He's currently in surgery for a moderate spinal injury," she told me and the calmness of her tone made me want to scream at her.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," I told her, hanging up.

I hurried around, getting dressed and calling all of our friends. I drove faster than I ever had to get to the hospital, and once there I ran in and found the waiting room where I needed to be. A few of our friends had already gathered, including Zack's best friend Brian.

We'd all been sitting there for what seemed like days before a doctor finally came out to find me.

"Mrs. Baker?" he asked, and I nodded vigorously.

"Is he okay?" I asked urgently, my eyes full of tears threatening to fall at any moment.

"The surgery was successful. We've repaired the problem that was created," he began, and I knew there was a 'but' coming. "But, it does seem he's slipped into a coma of a sort. His life isn't in danger at all from what we can tell, but at the moment his body is essentially non-responsive," he told me, and for a moment I couldn't process the words. It wasn't until Brian put his hand on my shoulder from behind me that my mind finally seemed to start working again.

"So he's... not going to wake up?" I asked, and the doctor gave me a pained look.

"We're confident that he will come out of the coma, but for now, no. He seems to be having a bit of a stubborn streak in there," he told me, saying a few more things before walking away.

As soon as he walked away, I collapsed into Brian's arms, a crying mess.

"He's going to be okay. You heard him. He's going to pull through this. We know how strong he is. He's going to come back to us," Brian comforted me, but I could tell by his tone that he was almost as hysterical as I was.