Everly's mind started piling up theories like a YouTuber hoarding content for the next fifty-two weeks of their algorithm driven lives.
She just came back from the bathroom and she had just now noticed George wasn’t there.
“Where is he? Was he not in bed when I got up and went to the bathroom? If he also needed to go to the bathroom I would have found him on the way back... just where is he?”
She started reconstructing the events in her mind, she didn't feel him when she got up, but when the consequences of your tea-drinking actions hit, you don't stop for a mental checklist of things missing from your bed.
Much less when that thing is your husband who sleeps so soundly that ‘soundly’ stops being just a fancy word to describe his sleeping.
The kitchen? Could he be looking for a midnight snack?
“George, I hope you didn't eat my charcuterie leftovers...”
But Everly didn't even get near the kitchen when the very soundly sleeping revealed George's whereabouts: the living room.
George was sleeping on the couch.
“What are you doing here? We went to bed together...”
It didn't make sense in her mind.
It would be one thing if he had stayed watching a movie and fallen asleep, but they went to bed together.
She fell asleep before him and he stayed reading his book.
Now Everly's mind was trying to rush through the logical possibilities but failing because, there just weren't many...
Did he fall asleep after eating that snack?
But... that doesn't explain why he was covering himself using his sweater like a blanket...
The TV is off too. Knowing George, he didn't have the foresight to put on the timer... so he didn't come to watch something and fell asleep.
And his cell phone is here, not in the nightstand, meaning he must have decided to sleep here on the couch...
“… instead of sleeping on the bed with me.”
A shadow fell over Everly—a metaphorical one—the living room remained as dark as it was before.
“Why would you do that to me?”
She had felt something was weird since he started reading that book three days ago... he got it on Sunday and it was the first time he was hooked by a book in years.
Far as she knew, he had only read comic books when he was in high school, what was he doing reading books without drawings?
Still, she didn't think there could be more to it.
Everly sat on the chair near the couch and started tearing up thinking of the less logical possibilities.
Was he upset with her?
She couldn't remember any recent fight or argument they had that would justify him feeling like he needed to sleep away from her.
“George, are you...” followed by more tears, “… cheating on me?”
She froze trying to figure out why did this make sense.
Didn’t he say a ‘friend’ had recommended him the book?
The phone was there so that had to be it, right?
George was waiting for her to fall asleep, would come to the living room and chat with someone else.
He needed to come to the living room to have a dirty conversation with another woman and after succumbing to his filthy lack of self-control he fell exhausted on the couch.
That’s why he couldn't go back to bed with her… because he didn't love her.
“Not you, George…” wrapping herself in her own arms and crying.
It had to be that, didn’t it?
But if that was the case, why did he act like everything was okay during dinner?
Nothing had really changed in the last few days other than his newly adopted hobby. He had been as loving as he had always been.
What was he hiding?
Whatever it was, something was certain: he was lying to her.
Everly finally had enough, she wiped her tears, tried to compose herself as best as she could, then conjuring all the self-control you could ask from a Scorpio, she reached to George's shoulder.
“Oh, babe... what happened?” he said, still with both feet firmly planted in Slumberland.
“I actually was wondering the same thing, George” —the way she said his name revealed it wasn't mere curiosity— “why are you sleeping on the couch?”
“Ah, haha, you caught me”, with a defeated laugh.
“But you're not going to get away with a stupid laugh George... this is not a game.”
“What do you mean I caught you? What happened?”
“Okay, I didn't want you to find out this way...”
Everly was doing her best to stay collected but her mind was already cursing him to death... “George, you better choose your next words very, very, VERY carefully.”
George continued.
“Do you remember last Saturday?”
“What about last Saturday?”, her voice steady and just slightly confused, but still paying attention to every word and every inflection of his voice.
Poor George, he didn’t know he needed to tread carefully. Every sense in Everly was in alert and if he just slipped once, he’d be sorry.
“You better not try to lie your way out of this one.”
“Well, you woke up in a very sour mood”.
“That’s it. He's dead.”
George kept talking, he didn’t know he had been executed already—he had not yet realized he was speaking his last words.
“And he is. Still. Talking.”
“For the better part of the day you were kind of in a bad mood. I tried to find out if I had done something wrong the night before and I couldn't get anything out of you...”
“Don’t you dare blame this on me George. I swear.”
She breathed, keeping it together enough to let him finish.
“It was until late at night when you finally told me, 'I hope your snoring lets me sleep tonight' and I realized it had been my fault you slept bad and were not in your usual cheerful spirit..."
“Oh no...”
"Honey...” her pitch changing.
“So I started thinking what could I do, I mean, everyone snores in my family... even grandma did! You should have listened to her!” he laughed again, oblivious to all the editorial changes happening in real time in Everly’s version of the story.
Her soul had just returned to her body just after having exhumed George's memory and allowing it to keep living.
George, seemingly unaware of his resurrection, kept talking.
“The only thing that came to my mind was that anytime I had to sleep in the same room as someone who snored in my family, I did my best to fall asleep first. So I decided to start reading so you’d fall asleep before me”.
“How can you be so stupid and at the same time so sweet?”
“I asked Broude for book recommendations and found that one, which is actually interesting!”
“Broude? That was your ‘friend’? Your AI?”
Her eyes started tearing up, hearing him as he finished explaining his ridiculous solution.
"But then I remembered that my sleep is heavier than yours so I was worried I could still wake you up, so I decided to sleep on the couch part of the night, and had my alarm one hour before yours so I could go back to bed..."
He unlocked his phone and showed her the alarm set for 4:30 a.m. labeled “Go back to Everly”.
“I know you can’t fall asleep unless we’re both in bed together so I thought this was the best way to make sure you had a good night’s sleep”.
Everly couldn't contain her tears now, she covered her face with her hands as all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
That was exactly the reason why she had avoided telling him about her sleeping problems, she knew he’d do something stupid to solve it.
And she forgot when she made the joke.
Looking at her crying, confused, George put his hand on her shoulder and asked, “I'm sorry babe, I didn't want to worry you... are you upset with me?”
She swiftly hugged him, releasing all of her worries in that hug.
“I never was” she said.
Author’s Note
I had not written a short story in a while. I have another one planned that continues on my previous more faery-tale-style of the first two, but I had this idea that was so fully realized I had to get it out first.
Like George, snoring is just normal in my family, even my son does and he’s just eleven!
I don’t know how I came up with the idea of the “solution” being sneaking out to sleep on the couch for a few hours and then coming back, but I knew it would work great for a dramatic mystery with a sweet resolution.
Did you solve the mystery before Everly did?
The subject matter is more like my poems than my usual short stories, so I guess this kind of strikes a balance between the two.
If you’re curious about my other short stories, here’s the last one I published a few months ago:
I have another one like that in the works, hopefully I’ll get to write it soon enough.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and until next time!
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😊
The way you captured that space between worry and love felt so real. Everly’s thoughts spinning, the fear, the vulnerability, then that gentle shift into tenderness… it hit my heart. It felt like being reminded that sometimes the love is there, even when our minds try to convince us otherwise. This was soft, emotional, and beautiful to read.
I was getting mad with Everly, got humbled and melting with her.. It is very uncanny how I know someone like George😂