Thursday Tales Presents: The Fall (Part 1)

I hope you enjoyed Fellow Othello, a take off of Shakespeare's story.  In our latest Thursday Tales I hope to give you a piece of small action from a potential tragedy.  I won't give away the ending but here's a taste of the story.  More to follow.....

THURSDAY TALES Presents:

THE FALL (Part 1)

“I’ve got to get out of these clothes – fast.” I thought to say but couldn't.  The light leaking through the water began to fade.   The water was surrounding me and I was quickly sliding further down into the darkening abyss.  The weight of my cloths held back my arms as I struggled to keep from going deeper; the intensity of the cold slowly sapping away my strength from me.  Fatigue began to take hold as every movement made my arms and legs feel heavier, becoming more clumsy as I struggled.

With all my strength I tried to kick, only to be met with a wince of pain from my left leg. It must have broken when I fell.  I struggled on.   Despite this, there was a detached feeling to the whole scene. My mind struggled to stay focus as reality seemed to shift.  I looked down and saw my fingers fumbling with the buttons on my shirt, trying and failing to undo all the buttons as I tried to get out of the shirt.

Instinct took over as I kicked off my shoes, and then tried to wiggle out of my pants, made even more difficult by the pain shooting though my leg.  The pain from my leg intensified, bring me the clarity that I needed. Then the panic came. 

I couldn't breathe, and I needed air.  All I had in my lungs was the breath I had caught as I tumbled from deck of my yacht.  My last image was of my wife, a wicked smile on her face, with Randall standing slightly behind her holding one arm back.  Randall had been the best man at my wedding, last month, my best friend since college. As I hit the water the last sound I heard was the splash of the water mingled with a woman’s scream.

I knew that I was doomed, that I would die in this watery place.  I continued to kick, but the pain that had brought me back to reality before failed.  I no longer had feeling in my legs.  As I prepared to meet my maker I did so with a clear understanding that I had done all I could for those I would leave behind.  A peace settled over me.

My brothers, sisters and parents would be well taken care of because of the generous pension that I had put aside to take care of them after I had made my first hundred million.  The lawyers would get a piece of the action, but his family would be guaranteed a future. They would not be wanting.

My wife would be satisfied, all the life insurance on me would go directly to her, totaling nearly half of my overall wealth.  My misfortune would help add to her fortune.  Making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.  My only regret is not having children.  I would have liked to -.  My thinking paused.

The last image of my wife played within my head as delusions began to take over.  I thought of Clarice, my wife staring down at me with a wicked smile.  She was the most beautiful woman I had ever been with.  Her hair, a silk, her eyes pearls of beauty.  With or without make up she was a stunning woman.  I had instantly fallen in love with her.  What sane man wouldn't want to be with a beauty as stunning as she?  Before I had made my first million she would have been one of those women who would have been out of my reach.  I remember when I first asked her out that Randall, my best friend, had joked that she only wanted me for my money. 

We had been married only a short time, but I felt her love.  She would go on spending sprees, always bringing something back for me.  Sometimes Randall would accompany her.  There was nothing suspicious.  Randall was the only person that I could ever trust.  He had been a business partner of mine for years, a friend even longer.  Our college years were filled with escapades of how he would gain one conquest after another, no matter if it was sports or women, Randall was a man to be envied. 

And now I was the man to be envied.  Yes, Randall lived a comfortable life, but he did not have the financial resources that I had developed over the years, and he did not have the love of a beautiful woman like Clarice.  She loved me.  

To be Continued.......