Marcus

This woman was going to be the death of me. I didn’t want to argue with her anymore. All I wanted to do was get her to leave. She refused though. It was like she wanted to see how far she could push me and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when she did. I had reached my limit after about an hour into this latest argument. I am not even sure what it was about anymore.

“I told you that I didn’t have anything to do with him Marcus.”

“And I told you that I didn’t care. It doesn’t matter what you say, I have heard it all from everyone else. I know what you did at the party and it doesn’t even matter anymore. I could go stomp his head in, but you know what, he can have you because you are just not worth the trouble.”

She was crying. Melissa was always crying and most of the time it would upset me to see her that way, but today I had no mercy. I wanted her to leave and this was becoming more than I was willing to deal with. Women were so much more complicated because I couldn’t handle it like I wanted to. I wanted to throw her out, but this was not to be.

“You are willing to throw this all away, everything that we have made together?”

I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but I was done with it. “Yes, I want to end this. You need to leave. I packed your stuff while you were gone. It’s by the door. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

I had tried unsuccessfully to end the conversation several times, but it was like Melissa just didn’t want to hear the truth. It was over and she was going to have to get used to the idea. It was her fault for cheating, but it was my fault for even letting her move in. I don’t know what I was thinking and now I was paying for it.

“You can’t just walk away.”

I turned to her with my hand on the door. “Yes I can. Watch me. You need to be gone when I get back Melissa.”

She yelled something at me and I heard glass crashing and breaking against the door. I didn’t want to know what it was that she had thrown. I told myself that I didn’t care. I was going to have a hell of a mess when I came home, but as long as I was alone, that would be alright with me. If that didn’t work, I could always just bring home another woman just in case. Then it would be impossible for her to not get it.

I smiled at the neighbor that was taking groceries in and he kind of grinned at me. “How are you doing Marcus?”

Melissa was still yelling in the house behind me and I was surprised at how loud she was. “Good, how are you?”

“Getting some meat for the barbeque. Are you coming?”

“When is it?”

“Tomorrow. It’s Anise’s birthday.”

“I will try to come by.”

“You bringing Melissa?”

We both looked towards the house that could have been in the middle of an exorcist as far as I was concerned. I didn’t want to bring her and by the look on my neighbor’s face, he didn’t want me to either.

“No, she is moving out today.”

“And you are leaving?”

“Yeah, I can’t take it anymore.”

“You know she is going to trash your house.”

I sighed and I could hear something else breaking in there. “Yeah, I know. It is going to be worth it if she is gone when I get back.”

He nodded like he understood, but I didn’t know if he did. Kevin and his wife never argued. I had lived next to them for several years and not once had I heard any kind of yelling and screaming like what was going on at my house at the moment.

“Sorry about this.”

“No problem Marcus. We thought that she was the one for you. I think this is the longest one to stay.”

I didn’t need the reminder. I should have kicked her out a while ago, but something would happen that would rope me back into her. Not this time though. I was determined not to let it happen like that this time.

“Nah, not the one for me. I don’t think that there is one for me Kevin. I think there is a right-now girl out there with my name on her.”

“Well we got someone new moving across the street.”

I looked to the empty house that he was talking about. My luck it wouldn’t be anyone that I would want as a neighbor. Several families and individuals had come and gone. There was no telling who would be next.

“How do you know?”

“Anise signed them up and took the deposit for the electric. She told me when she got home last night.”

I shrugged, not really caring. I was too worried about getting the woman out of my house before I worried about anyone else moving in.

“Hope they aren’t as uptight as that last family. I thought that the cops were just going to stop answering that woman’s calls.”

“I think that she just gave up because they did. Dozer scared her more than you did.”

She was petrified of my pit bull and though he was harmless, I let her think whatever it was that she wanted to think about it. “Glad she is gone. We will have to cross our fingers that we get a good neighbor this time.”

Kevin agreed and I told him I would see him later. “Come by for a beer if your lady is still there. Don’t get into it with her. She will just get you in trouble and you know it.”

“I know, why do you think I am leaving?”

“With that one, it is probably a good idea.”

Waving to him as he walked in with the paper bags from the grocers I got onto my bike and looked back to the empty house one last time. Whoever it was, it couldn’t be worse than Melissa. The neighborhood was due a little peace and quiet after her.

***

I got back later that evening and I was a little nervous about all of the lights being off in my house. I didn’t know if that meant that Melissa was sleeping, like a dragon in its stolen lair or if she had left. Hell, she could have left it empty and there weren’t even light bulbs left. Either way, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I went inside. I didn’t care what was left there. I just wanted that crazy woman to be gone.

I parked the bike and stayed standing on it for a few moments listening. I needed to go ahead and see. I almost wanted to see Kevin and then I would know is she was there or not. I had to prepare myself for the madness that most likely would be awaiting me when I opened the door.

The place was quiet as I walked up to it and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was movement in the house across the street. I looked back quickly and saw a figure in the un-curtained window. But I didn’t have time to think about that. I had to worry about the madness that awaited me and the woman I hoped was gone. That was all I wished for as I tried the door knob.

I don’t know why I thought I was going to be able to just go in. Maybe I thought that she was going to take everything and just leave it all unlocked, but the opposite was true. I wasn’t prepared for the entry to be locked. I had a set on my keyring, but I had left that in my rush. I hadn’t wanted to pass her to get the ones off the counter, so I had grabbed the extra set that was by the door. That meant that I was stuck outside of my house and the only option was to break the window. The door wasn’t going to come in and even though I knew the house was empty now, I was too aggravated by Melissa that I didn’t even care that I would have to fix the window later.

Looking around to see if anyone was out, lights were on in the empty house and I wondered who our new neighbors were. It didn’t matter, I told myself. I just needed to get into the house, so that I wouldn’t have to stand out here. It took only a minute to decide which window to break. I broke the one in the front because it was easier to get into for fixing it.

When I got inside, it was exactly how I knew it was going to be. The place was trashed and anything that was of value was gone. It looked like I had been robbed, even though I knew it was just the spite from my ex. Melissa was always that way and I just ignored it because the sex was great. I should have known that she would do this.

Turning on the lights, the flood of seeing made it worse. I was surprised that I had light bulbs left. I just wanted to go to bed without dealing with everything, but even that was taken from me. Seemed about right and I called Joel to see if I could crash in one of the empty apartments at the complex. Some of the places were furnished and that was exactly what I needed right now.

By the time I got off the phone with Joel, I was ready to get out of there. I would deal with all of this tomorrow. Tonight I just wanted some sleep. It had been a long day and I was done dealing with Mellissa and her storm. That woman was like a damn hurricane.

There was a hard knock on the door and then I heard wood splintering off as someone kicked it in. The police made themselves known and I put my hands up as several guns were trained on me.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“We got a call that there was a break-in in this house.”

I told him that it was an ex that was leaving, but they didn’t believe me. The place was empty and I looked like a criminal. The cops didn’t want to hear anything that I had to say about it. I was going to jail and I knew that Melissa would be happy if she knew.

As the cop pushed my head down to get into the backseat of the car, I looked over at the house with lights on and I saw a brunette in the window. She must have seen me because she was gone after a second. Did my new neighbors call the police? It made sense and I had to just laugh. I guess there were worse neighbors than the last ones. These guys were starting out early.

Why did that woman in the window look so familiar?