Winchester Legacy: Introduction or 1.0

Months flew by and I was moving up in the ranks. They said I’d earned a promotion so they’d given me a obstacle course.  I’d have rather had the money, I thought as I tried to run the stupid thing. It never failed. I was never able to shimmy out from underneath of the barbed wire without it catching on the back of my workout clothes.  I flung my hands up, trying to clasped the board in my hand so I could use it as a grip but…

…no dice. I ended up landing on my butt as plumes of dirt drifted around me. I growled. I was not meant for the military. I still had this insane urge to help people. I’d even taken to going to the library and looking up online courses. Joe urged me on. He kept telling me that it was never to late to follow a dream. I was beginning to believe him. I believed him even more as I sat in the dirt struggling to complete this lame obstacle course.

“Stupid, stupid barbed wire fence. I’ve got more holes in my clothes than I thought possible,” I muttered as I shoved out from the dirt.

I glared at the wall. I was fit, I was in shape but I couldn’t beat this stupid thing. Determination over came me. Although I might not stay in this field I sure as hell was going to beat this obstacle course. I looked over my shoulder and some of the tension eased as I looked at the flowers by my door.

Joe liked to surprise me with flowers every now and again. I’d wake up, go outside to get the paper and there would be another bouquet of flowers waiting for me. Although, more often than not, Joe was at my place. He said he enjoyed it more than his own place. I don’t see how though. His place must be a major dump since mine was nothing to write home about. At least not yet.

I did end up changing careers. I know worked in the medical field and since I worked nights Joe and I tried to spend as much time together during the day as we could. He was trying to teach me how to play chess. It wasn’t any easy game and it was made even harder by  my co-worker trying to give me sage advice.

Because I worked nights Joe and I didn’t get to make love as often as we used to. By the time I got home I was too exhausted to do much of anything. Being a paramedic was no easy job and even though Joe had moved in he worked days now so we were like two ships in the night. I missed the sex, it was great after all, but Joe had changed the last few weeks. When I asked him about it he grew evasive and I just chalked it up to him having to work so hard.

But there was a little voice that whispered in my ear that it wasn’t his job.

I came home early from work one night because they were overstaffed. I waved a cheerful farewell to my coworker and then strolled nonchalantly into the house. I froze when I heard snoring. Joe never here when I got off of work. Had he wanted to surprise me but had fallen asleep instead? Grinning I flicked on the light.

My smile froze on my face as a woman blinked sleepily at me. She yawned. “Who are you?

I was dumbfounded. I wanted to break her scrawny little neck but then I thought better of it. I had always promised myself that I would never fight over a man. Any man! Much less a man that didn’t have any respect for me and my feelings.

“I’m his girlfriend. Or least…I thought I was.”

“Joe doesn’t have a girlfriend. I’ve been dating him for three months.”

“Sorry sweetheart. I guess he played us both. Now, if you’d kindly get out of my bed and out of my house?”

Scowling, she reached over and hit Joe on the back of the head before she gathered her things. She paused when she reached me.

“I hope you believe me when I tell you I didn’t know about it.”

I nodded. “Yeah, playboy here was really good at his deception wasn’t he?”

“What’s going on?” Joe asked sleepily. He yawned then shot up out of the bed.

“Toni! I-”

“Save it Joe. I want you out of the house now. Take everything that you brought with you and leave.” I felt empty, hollow. I couldn’t even summon up enough energy to be angry. He planted his hands on his hips.

“You’re not going to even give me a chance to explain?” he demanded angrily.

“What’s there to explain? You were screwing around on me. We’re over. Done. Fini. How many ways do you want me to say it?”

“Do you really think that you can just cut me out of your life so easily? I’m the best you’ve ever had remember? You women always come back wanting more.”

I sighed. He was angry because I wasn’t. I had a feeling that if I had begged him to stay he would have walked out the door without looking back. Instead he was insulted because I wasn’t putting up more of a fight.

“Joe,  I told you when we first started dating that I can’t stand cheaters. You only get one chance with me. You blew it. We’re over. Just…leave.”

“You think you can find someone to replace me? There’s no one like me!”

I shrugged. “And thank God for that. Leave.”

To illustrate my point I waved at him. A look of stunned disbelief crossed his face before he growled and grabbed his clothes.

“You’re making a mistake,” he snapped.

“No, my mistake was not listening to the little voice inside of my head telling me that something wasn’t right. I won’t make that mistake again.”

He stared at me for several moments in silence before he slipped into his clothes and started to gather all his othe items. I shook my head.

“You know what? I’ll mail you your crap. Just get out of my house now.”

It was only after I was sure that he was gone that I broke down and sobbed. After I finished my cry fest I grabbed all his things, shoved them into a garabge bag and set them by the door. Opening the door I grabbed the bouquets and tossed them in the trash before heading back into the house. Stripping the sheets I threw those on top of his bag of stuff before replacing the sheets and crawling into bed. I stared blankly at the wall before tears over took me again.

But I wasn’t sad for long. No, I bounced back. Maybe too quickly. Maybe I’d never been in love with Joe. Just the idea of being in love. Whatever it had been it soon became a bitter lesson.  It didn’t stop me from moving up in my career. If anything I worked harder to try and suppress the memories. And before I knew it I was a nurse.

Writer’s Notes: I decided to try a different style of writing. I don’t know if I’ll keep it in first person but it seems to be working for now. At least I think so. Let me know what you think.

Also, I thought Joe was going to be the spouse but obviously not. He was home by himself and I’m keeping freewill turned on for this story(and no pose boxes either! YAY!!) and so I had him call a friend. Didn’t realize that he was going to greet the female like he did. And then I watched as ACR took over. And since Joe had just moved in and they weren’t engaged there was no jealousy.  They did argue though. Ha!

Also, I’m still getting the hang of wordpress so if you  have any tips or suggestions let me know! They’d be much appreciated!