Short Story – A Trick of the Light

 

The day I met him, a lightbulb had gone out in my house. One corner of my kitchen, plunged into a strange kind of light, full of shadows cast from the remaining working lights. I hadn’t been able to place immediately what had changed when walking into the room, but I had an immediate feeling that something was ‘off’. 

I met him at the store. I was looking at all of the different boxes, the old
bulb, the one no longer working, in my hand. The task was like one of those toys you gave to a child, to fit the shaped blocks through the right hole, except I was only given a flat image of each hole, and I had to try and figure out which one matched this thing I was holding.

He came over to me, asking if I needed any help. He wore no uniform, and had no name-tag, but he seemed to know more about light bulbs than I did, so I said yes, and he took the bulb from me, looking it over, before picking up a box from the shelf and handing it to me. I thanked him, and was going to walk away, but he started speaking, so I stopped and turned back to him. Did I want to grab a drink sometime?

The cafe was small, the aroma of coffee hanging heavily in the air. I had never been in there before, but it was nice, a place I wouldn’t visit by myself, but one I didn’t mind being in. He walked through the door, a scarf around his neck, and a big coat that he shrugged off as the door closed behind him. At first, I thought it looked like he had started growing a moustache, but when he saw me and started walking towards me, I realised he hadn’t, it had simply been a shadow from the overhead lighting.

We met twice more, at a restaurant, and back in the cafe. The third time, he dropped by my house on the evening he was supposed to pick me up and take me out for dinner. I opened the door to see him holding out a bunch of store-bought flowers, the kind that have had their petals dyed by colorant in the water. I had never liked that kind of flower, but I took them, thanking him, and asked if he wanted to step inside. Something had happened with the reservation, he said. We couldn’t go to the place he had wanted to. So I suggested we order something, and stay here instead. 

We had gone for a walk in the dark, the street lights casting shadows as our footsteps echoed down the empty street. I glanced towards him, my scarf and hat half obscuring my face, the scarf wrapped tightly around my neck and chin, and the hat coming down low on my forehead. I thought he glanced towards me, and smiled, but when I smiled back, he didn’t realise. I reached for his hand, and he glanced at me, a motion completely different to what I originally thought was him looking and smiling. It must’ve been the shadows, the light bouncing off things to trick the eye into thinking it saw what it did not.

We grew closer quickly, especially after I love yous were exchanged. After a year, we had keys to each other’s apartments, and he dropped by nearly every day after work, making a detour to come and visit me. I made friends with his friends, and we set up a surprise party to celebrate his twenty-fifth birthday. He had walked through the door, and someone had followed him in. We had jumped out when he turned the light on, shouting ‘Happy Birthday’, and pulling party poppers. When our eyes met, at first I thought he looked angry, but it morphed into surprise. It must’ve always been surprise. The sudden change in light, from darkness to brightness, must’ve been messing with my eyes. He introduced the girl behind him as a co-worker, and said she had come round to pick up some files he had brought home from work that she needed. 

There were some things that I started to question, especially when he stopped coming round after work. I walked over to his place one evening, missing his company, unlocking his door and walking in. He looked up from the sofa, where he was sat with his co-worker. I thought he looked annoyed, but he stood and walked over to me, embracing me and planting a kiss on my lips. I pulled away, and said I was sorry if I was interrupting them doing work. The smell of her perfume seemed to have permeated every particle of air. He said it was fine, they were just finishing. She had left soon after, and we had ordered food, and watched a movie together, his arm around me, but the smell of her perfume lingered, and distracted me.

The day it all came crashing down, I was going over to his house. He had called me earlier, before work, and asked if I could come over at six so we could go out to dinner. I arrived at five-thirty, knowing he would be home and wanting to see him. His front door was unlocked and I walked in, seeing him no-where. I called his name, and knocked on the closed door of his bedroom. I heard someone swear, and it wasn’t him. It was a female voice. No longer caring about privacy, I pulled his door open. How I wished my eyes were tricking me, that the light from behind me was casting strange shadows into his room, but no. In front of me stood his co-worker, a sheet pulled around her body. I turned away as he pulled on his trousers, and he tried to walk after me, but I slammed his front door shut before he could reach me. 

I thought he loved me. But I suppose that was a trick of the light as well.

And done!

I had the idea for this story a couple of days ago, but mainly I only had the title and the last line. The rest just kind of appeared when I was sat, waiting in the car. There was nothing else to do (I had no WiFi, gasp!) so I wrote this.

That's all for now...

Bye!