As the train lurched to a stop, a wave of bodies pressed and pushed against the doors. Their faces blended together appearing pasty and waxen. Dull, dusk light trickled into the metro and cast shadows onto the faces in the crowd, turning them into helpless vermin of another world. Jane passed through the shadows as she stepped through the wave; their company held nothing for her. In a daze, she wandered aimlessly down the bustling city streets in the rain looking for anything that would console the aching loneliness in her chest.
Glimpses of John caressing another woman’s shoulder and planting a sweet kiss on her lips kept flashing through her mind. It was her fault really; she knew that she should never have dropped by his house unannounced, it was impolite of her. However, deep inside she was hoping that their relationship had advanced enough that he would welcome the visit and take her in. She had never stepped foot inside of John’s house before. Peeking through his kitchen window to check if he was home lead to a devastating discovery almost far too much for her heart to handle. The kitchen was full of light and laughter as John cooked dinner for his bubbly, blonde guest, giving her kisses and caresses as he passed by her, while Jane waited outside in the dim light of sunset as the sky began to sprinkle melancholy drops upon her frizzy brown hair.
Reality slowly sunk in deeper and deeper until the shock wore off into depression. She slunk back to her apartment in the rain, growing ever heavier with a crestfallen heart. As she entered her own kitchen to pour a glass of wine, her despair slowly turned into malice towards the way John had led her on and mistreated her. Her throat was so full of disgust that she had to force down the wine she poured from the bottle John brought and forgot to take home after their first date. The more Jane thought about their relationship, the more hateful and malevolent she became. It was like a disease had been let loose into her mind, crawling into every crack and neuron it could find until she was transformed from the meek, mild woman she was into a creature twisted with hate and grief. As she began pouring another glass of wine, it slipped through her petite fingers and shattered across the floor leaving a clutter of cold shivery shards spotted with a dark red stain. Jane knew how to cure the emptiness.
When she crashed through the front door of John’s quiet one story house as the nameless blonde woman came to answer it, she presumed he was in the bedroom changing his clothes after making dinner. Jane could tell from the second she looked into the blonde’s eyes that she was a woman of cocktail parties, diamonds, and late nights at clubs. John could afford this lifestyle, but he was unwilling to share this world with her from the day they met. Jane was merely a play thing that made him dinner and gave him an occasional show afterwards. All of these realizations came to her at once and fueled her madness, thrusting a butcher knife she brought from her own kitchen through the blonde’s thin spandex dress and into her abdomen. John came running to the front of the house when he heard the commotion just in time to watch his new fancy plaything crumple to the ground, soaked in blood. He met Jane’s eyes timidly and immediately sensed the cruel change in her. She calmly eased the door closed and turned the deadbolt to ensure it was locked.
John was bathed in fear as he watched her cross the room towards him. Standing tall and stiff, he held his ground even though his knees were bouncing together and begging him to run. Jane dropped the knife at his feet and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in close for a passionate embrace. “I’m home,” she whispered in his ear.
Sound and Vision 