Love you Forever...

'All right mate, what would you like to drink? And you, Mrs. Williams?'

'Don't look at her like that!'

'Look at her like… what, Joel? I was being polite.'

'I said don't look at her like that,' Joel said while grinding his teeth.

'I- ok, Sir,' Ted answered, puzzled.

'You know what? It was people like you that ruined the love of my life. It was people like you that took her away from me. People like you that made her slip away from my grasp.' Ted stood puzzled. He had a hard time understanding this. She was dead, yes, but what did he do, he always served Joel so nicely, treated him as he would treat a brother. Played the game to help Joel. Was there something about Joel's wife's death that he did not know?

'Tired, love?' His voice was gentle. Devotion to the love of his life was undeniable. 'Ted, bring us some more wine, my friend. We are feeling particularly drained tonight. You know what long workdays do to your body and mind, don't you? My wife and I will need to have an extra glass of that deep red shiraz of yours.'

'Of course, Joel. I will top up the glasses straight away.' Every night, the same ritual, the same conversation, the same game. Ted's compassion for a man whose wife died in a brutal home burglary was boundless. He served him gladly and respectfully, for he could see that the lines on Joel's face were becoming deeper by the day. His eyes were less focused these days… as if he saw but did not see. His thoughts were so scrambled at times that Ted would nod and agree without having the foggiest of what Joel was saying. 'There you go mate, all topped up for you and your lovely missus.' Joel smiled at him gratefully as he pulled the glasses within reach. Then he turned and focussed all his attention on the woman who captured his heart years ago and still brightened his every day. How much he loved her.

'So, Darling, you say you want to redecorate the bedroom? I thought we did that just a couple of years ago. Remember when you decided that we should have a neutral colour scheme with a splash of colour? I know you wanted the blue, but you must admit that my suggestion of the red was better! Look how well it turned out? I particularly love the splash of red on the headboard of our bed. The red dots on the carpet are genius too! Don't you agree? Of course, you do!' He turned to Ted.

The last couple left the bar and Joel knew it was closing time. 'Well, Ted, better head off home now, time flies, doesn't it!' Time always seemed to pass so quickly to Joel when he was with his wife. He was scared that a day would come when he might be without her. He pushed the terrible thought out of his mind.

'All right mate, have a nice night, and you too, Mrs. Williams.'

Joel saw red. Was Ted flirting with his wife? She was Joel's, and Joel's only. He had been forced to confront so many men over the years. Fools who would not keep their eyes off her. And now this! Here, tonight, Ted was doing the same thing! He felt waves of nausea erupt from the pit of his stomach. The terrible betrayal of the woman he loved and a man he called his friend. Here, right in front of his eyes, they were trying it on. She with her innocent smile and downcast, shy gaze! And he! He openly caressing her with his eyes and his voice and… and his wine! No man could bear this.

'You're flirting with my wife aren't you? You don't want to see my bad side now do you Ted?'

'Joel! Stop this! I'm not flirting with your wife, mate. She's not here… remember… she died. Do you remember?'

Joel lunged forward and grabbed Ted by the hair. In one swoop, he brought his head down and bashed it on the counter so that blood splattered to the sides. On the wine glasses, on Joel's white shirt and on his hands, and on his face but he did not stop. He couldn't. He kept banging his head just like he did hers years ago. In the back of his mind, some sane voice said, 'you won't get away with a home burglary this time, Joel'. He threw back his head and laughed hysterically, 'I don't care! I don't care!' His voice was thundering and bouncing back from the walls. 'Tonight, I end it all'.

A man on the other side of the bar tried to run away, but it was of no use. Joel saw everything. 'No, no, no, you're not leaving. Nobody is.'

'P… p… Please, I have a family, a wife, and kids, I don't know what they'll do without me.'

'They'll do just fine.' Joel croaked harshly. Without hesitating, Joel grabbed one of the knives on the counter and hurled it across the room, planting it right inside the man's heart. Breathing his last, he said 'All those years, lying about a brutal home burglary. I see the real you know. Your wife is looking down at you… disgusted' Raging, Joel savagely mutilated the man's dying body.

'You look down at your wife now.' Snarled Joel.

It was only a matter of minutes until the police arrived at the scene, as some alarmed neighbours heard the shouts and moans of the brutal double murder. The crime scene consisted of not only the bodies of Ted, and who the police identified as Jose George, but also Joel, with his wrist slit, and his blood pouring all over the timber floor, seeping through the floorboards. Investigations led by the police concluded that Jose was stabbed, but they had a hard time figuring out what had happened to Ted. The only time that something like this happened was a brutal home burglary, even the splashes of blood on the counter, and the blood specks on the floor were similar too. Only after a note was found in Joel's front pocket was it concluded that the two murders were connected. Same murderer. Same way. And according to the note, Joel was content with his life. He was about to see the lovely blue eyes that captured his heart all those years ago.