Love, me

A Valentines love story, with a twist

Dear Angela,

I'll see you later on when I get home from work. I'm going to stop by the store on the way home and get some fresh salmon. The corner seafood market has it on sale this week and I know how you love it. I'll cook that and we can have a salad with it. I love you so much and will be thinking of you all day while I'm working and can't wait to see you when I home. Maybe after dinner we can watch a old movie on one of those cable movie channels if they have a good one on. I'll see you shortly.

Love, me

Dan quietly wrote his note to leave for Angela, as he did each morning. He loved his wife and hated being away from her, even for the time he was at work. The good thing about it was he had to be in early so he usually got off early as well. He was a employee of the city of Dayton, Ohio. Had been with them for sixteen years, started with them right after he and Angela had tied the knot. They had moved to Dayton from Cleveland right after they had eloped and gotten married. They were young. Angela's parents did not like Dan and the same could be said for Dan's parents liking Angela. They were both warned they would be cut off if they married and each set of parents would disown them. But they were in love. They saved some money, eloped on a friday afternoon and that very weekend they moved to Dayton to begin their life together. Their parents kept their word. Neither set had any contact with them. In the beginning that had really hurt Dan and Angela but as time went by they began to adjust. They didn't need them, they had each other. They had rented a small apartment for their first ten years. They saved every dime they could during that time and six years ago they purchased their first home. A modest three bedroom, two bath home on the outskirts of town. That was also when they decided they had waited long enough and it was now time to start a family. They tried and tried but nothing happened. Getting concerned, they both made doctor appointments to get checked out. They both had exams and received a clean bill of health. The miracle had just not happened yet but they refused to give up. "When the time is right, it will happen", Dan would tell his bride. And now with sixteen years being with the city Dan didn't have to work nights anymore. He was on the 6:30 to 4:00 shift so he was home every night with Angela. He didn't have to worry about her safety like he did when he was working the night shift. When they first got married Angela thought she was going to continue to take classes to become a teacher, which was what she had wanted to be her whole life. But Dan refused to allow her. He was the man, it was his job to work and provide. End of story. This had produced terrible arguments and fights but Dan refused to back down. His mother never worked and he would not allow his wife to work. Once, in the heat of one of their arguments Dan drew back to hit her but stopped before he did. Angela suddenly became very scared and ran into the bedroom and Dan chased after her. He was in a rage, out of control and Angela, for the first time, feared for her safety. She slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. Dan beat on the door with all his might, cursing and screaming for her to open the door. Angela was about to call 911 for help when Dan stopped and she could hear him crying through the closed door. Soon, he was apologizing to Angela, begging for her forgiveness. He had lost control, he was sorry and it would never happen again. After a few minutes, Angela did open the door and there was Dan. Crying, reaching out to her and telling her how sorry he was. That was sixteen years ago. Angela never brought up the subject again. The arguments and fights just weren't worth it. After all, Dan was a hard worker and he provided for all their needs. And Dan loved her with all his heart.

That night Dan did bring home salmon and he even insisted on cooking it and tossing together the salad. After dinner he even cleaned up. He didn't mind. When all that was done and over with they settled onto the couch together and channel surfed for awhile, looking for something to watch. There wasn't any old movies on that interested them. Soon Dan was playfully tickling on Angela and she was laughing and then Dan would laugh. This went on for awhile and they started kissing and making out and soon Dan was picking her up off of the sofa and carried her into the bedroom and laided her on the bed. Still kissing and getting more worked up by the minute they started pulling each other clothes off and soon they were trying again to conceive a child. When they were finished Dan stayed there, rubbing Angela's hair and stroking her face. "I love you so much darling", declared Dan. "I love you too" responded his wife. Soon they fell asleep, embraced and holding on to each other.

Dan awoke to the sound of his alarm clock blaring. Briefly startled, he reached over and hit the darn thing to turn it off. 4:00 am had come quickly. He looked over at Angela. Thankfully, it hadn't woke her and she was still asleep. He quietly got out of bed and slipped out to the kitchen to put on the coffee. Once he had it brewing he went and did his daily ritual of shaving and showering as he prepared for work. When he was finished he went out and poured his first cup of coffee. It always provided him with that morning jolt which he needed so badly. As the coffee started doing it's thing he collected his letter from yesterday and put in in the folder that was tucked in between where the kitchen cookbooks were. He had saved every letter he had wrote to Angela since he had started writing them each morning. The letters numbered in the hundreds, maybe a thousand. He had wrote and left her one each workday morning for the last six years starting right after they had bought their house. His signature was always the same, Love, me. He had started that when he started leaving her the letters and it had just stuck. He got out a clean piece of paper and started on that days.

Dear Angela,

Last night was beautiful. I can't believe we fell asleep like that. If its possible I think I love you more with each passing day. Today is Friday and I'm so glad we have the weekend to look forward to. We can discuss what we want to do and maybe make some plans when I get home today from work. Please know that I will be thinking of you today and I can't wait to get home to see you. Again, thanks for last night. I love you.

Love, me

Quickly now Dan got dressed and finished his coffee. He slipped back into the bathroom to brush his teeth. After that he slipped back in the kitchen and threw together his lunch. He poured the rest of his coffee into his big mug he carried with him to work and got all his things together to leave. Before leaving, he quietly slipped back into his bedroom to finish his last thing he also always did before leaving his lovely bride. Walking over to the side of the bed, Dan leaned down to kiss Angela on the forehead. on what used to be skin, now just a dried out leathery covering over bone and a skull. The forehead of a corpse. A corpse that had been dead for a very long time. One eye staring straight ahead, the other one staring straight up as if looking at something only she could see. Her mouth open like it was releasing a scream that had escaped a long time ago. As Dan stood back up he whispered, as not to wake her, "I love you, see you soon".