She did a poor job of hiding the changes. I began noticing on a Wednesday, not sure why that day sticks out, but nonetheless I remember it was a Wednesday night after dinner. I was exhausted after a long day of work; I was doing the dishes and looked outside and saw that the Tiki torch I bought was gone. I know my wife didn’t like it, but she’s dealt with it over the last few months, so I’m not sure why she’d get rid of it now.
“Honey?” I called out.
“Yeah?” She yelled back.
“Where’s the Tiki torch?”
She walked into the kitchen. “What Tiki torch?”
“The one I got outside.”
She narrowed her eyes. “We’ve never had a Tiki torch outside.”
“What are you talking about?”
She crossed her arms on her chest, confusion written all over her face. “You’ve talked about getting one, but you never bought it.”
“I swore I bought one Annie. Come outside, I’ll show you where I put it.”
I took her to the spot where it should’ve been except there was no hole. I stood there, stumped. “What did I tell you.” She went back inside. The next day it was the frame I got her for our anniversary. It was a picture of us from our wedding and it was missing from our picture wall. We were sitting on the couch and watching a movie when I glanced over and noticed it was gone.
“What happened to that picture I got you?”
She looked half asleep as she mumbled. “What picture?”
“Don’t give me that, it’s the wedding picture I gave you last year.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I sat up.
“How can you not remember? You loved it and hung it up immediately.” I got up from the couch and pointed to where the frame used to be. “It was right here.” She sat up and wiped her eyes.
“Babe, we’ve never had a frame there.” I stood there, confused.
“Okay, then where’s the frame?”
“Like I told you, I don’t remember you giving me that.” I was speechless, how could she forget? She cried when I gave it to her.
“Anyway, I’m going to bed.” She gave me a kiss and went to bed. I tore the house apart trying to find it, but never did.
This went on for a few days and more and more of my things disappeared. Minor things like a pair of shoes, jeans, and a shirt, and I decided to keep my mouth shut and not say anything. Annie seemed so skeptical of me, and oblivious to things being missing so I decided to investigate. I searched the trash cans when Annie left for work and came up with nothing.
Then I went to the garage to see if she hid anything in there. She doesn’t go in the garage often, so it would be a perfect place to hide things without me suspecting. I probably flipped everything upside down and still didn’t see anything. I didn’t want to suspect that Annie was behind this, but I wasn’t a person who regularly lost things. I documented everything I thought was missing and kept that list in my wallet. What was weird was that the longer that list grew, the more distant my wife became.
Now I’m not a person who can easily confront someone, so I kept letting this go on for a few more weeks. I know that’s way too long, but the things that were disappearing weren’t crucial, I guess. Maybe she was spring cleaning? Getting rid of stuff we don’t need? Well, more of the stuff I don’t need, as I noticed she didn’t really get rid of any of her things. I know this rationalizing doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Annie has never pulled a stunt like this before; she is usually so calm. And in our five years of marriage, we’ve barely had any fights. It’s been perfect, until the last two months.
I’ll come home from work, and she’ll be shut in her office. I’ll ask her what she wants for dinner and she’ll barely answer, if she does she’ll eat in her office. Despite living together, I never have felt so far away from her.
I ended up getting a security box to put some of my valuables in there, I started locking up my wallet, passport, and a few other things. The final straw was when my grandfather’s watch went missing. It was passed down to me by my father a few years ago when my grandfather passed away, and I’ve worn it every day since. Normally I put it in the safety box under my bed, but out of habit I left it on my nightstand. I woke up the next morning and reached over for it. I fumbled around and my eyes grew wide. I checked under the nightstand and in the box under the bed and came up with nothing. I was furious. My wife was in the kitchen, putting together her lunch for the day when I yelled, “Where’d you put it?” She flinched at my loud voice as her back was turned.
She slowly turned towards me and replied, “Do what?”
“My fucking watch, my grandfather’s watch. I had it on the nightstand and now it’s gone.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, I didn’t mess with it.”
“Bullshit.” I seethed. “Several of my things have been missing and I sure as hell didn’t lose them. So where is everything, Annie?”
“I haven’t taken anything, Mitch.”
“Are you seriously going to play dumb on this?” She zipped up her lunchbox aggressively and set it in her purse.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I really don’t appreciate you accusing me of stealing your stuff. Now I’m going to work.” She spat and slammed the door.
My heart was beating wildly in my chest, and I practically saw red. I got ready for work and left shortly after, hoping to dive deep into work and forget about it, but instead, it lingered in my head for the rest of the day. I ended up staying later as I didn’t want to face her. I’d never seen her that cold with me before, and sure I accused her of stealing my things, but that tone scared me. It was nearing 8 p.m. by the time I got back, and I hurried to the front door. I put the key in, and it wouldn’t budge. I scoffed and pounded on the door. I knew she was inside, her office light was on but she didn’t hear me or at least was choosing not to open the door. I went to the backyard, opened the fence, and walked towards the sliding door. Again, that was locked, and my heart dropped, did she change the locks?
I know we had a fight, but it certainly didn’t escalate to the point where she needed to change the locks. I pounded on the door for several minutes, growing angrier the longer I was out there. It was December and freezing. Finally, she came over. I was thinking I was going to have the break the damn glass. What confused me was that she grabbed a pan and walked towards the door with a fear in her eyes that I’d never seen before. “I’m gonna call the cops if you don’t leave soon.”
“Annie? Just let me in.”
“Please leave, the cops are coming.”
“What are you talking about, Annie? Open the door.”
“Sir, I don’t know who you are, please leave.”
A pit formed in my stomach. I tried for the door and looked back up at her again and she had tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m your husband. Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t have a husband.” She looked at the clock. “The cops are coming soon, please leave.”
I shook my head in disbelief and headed to my car. I went to the nearest motel and tried to call and text Annie, but my number was blocked. I texted a few of her friends to see what was going on and received the same message from them all, “I don’t know who you are. Annie doesn’t have a husband.”
I threw my phone down in frustration and paced around the room for a few minutes. I grabbed my phone and called the last resort, my in-laws. After a few rings, her mother answered and I explained the situation. I heard her mother take a sharp breath in and not so quietly whispered to my father-in-law, “I think she did it again.”
Ah, how eerie. Nice work!