The Banishing Read Online Free PDF

skin immediately flushed a bright, beetroot red, and Melissa almost had to stop tears of exhaustion and embarrassment from seeping out of her.
    She remembered a waitress nearby sighing and muttering something under her breath about “idiot customers”. Melissa was about to turn on her and give her a piece of her mind when, out of nowhere—at least it felt that way—a man stepped up beside her, reached down, and began helping her collect the mess that was her lunch.
    Mark.
    Tall, dark, and handsome. A famous cliché, but that was Mark all over. He dripped sexiness, Melissa thought at the time. She had smiled, self-conscious and eager to make a quick escape, but over those mere moments, as the two knelt side by side, mopping up the spilled drink with napkins and piling salad back onto her plate, Melissa found herself looking over at him, unable—even if she wanted—to take her eyes from him.
    “Do you always do this when you’re eating out, or should we order in tonight?”
    Melissa felt her skin turn red again. She laughed. The chat-up line sounded well used and favored, like a worn paperback read many times. She knew she couldn’t have been the first recipient, but she could not help but smile.
    Melissa knew she wasn’t perfect looking, but she wasn’t bad, either. She had never had much trouble getting dates in high school, and she had had several short-lived relationships over the last few years. Men had been interested, but most of the time she had not reciprocated, especially when one seemed a little cocky, ripe with chat-up lines. In that moment, though, she found she didn’t care about all of that. She felt good about him, whoever he was. The warm smile, the way he had rushed over to help her…all of that certainly helped, but there was more than that to it, she knew.
    Something in his eyes. She felt a chemical spark when he looked into hers. A connection.
    She didn’t spend longer than three seconds finding the words to answer him. “I could do with a pizza, if you want to go halves,” she had said, playfully smiling at him.
    That had been that. Simple and quick and uncomplicated, the two of them had joined souls. The pizza, as it turned out, wasn’t in either of their homes, but in a small, Italian restaurant that Mark said was his favorite.
    Despite her nervousness, the words flowed, their mood melted, and it all felt so perfect and right. Nothing was hard about it. Melissa thought back to other dates she had been on over the years. Some she considered had gone very well, but none like this; this felt different.
    Adult. Mature. Real.
    They had been a couple ever since.
    Mark had been so at ease back then. At the time, he seemed so carefree, flirtatious, and warm. The sex had been something out of this world, she recalled.
    That was Mark. Funny. Always ready with a witty remark. Sexy without even knowing it. He had stolen her heart, and Melissa knew the day she met him, she felt complete. Whole.
    She didn’t want to lose that. He was still there, still with her now. The real him was buried behind the troubles they now faced.
    She wasn’t ready to let go of that. She knew with a steady resolve that she would do anything to save her marriage. Anything to save Mark. Closing her eyes, Melissa fell into a steady sleep, the memories stirring beneath her eyelids as she travelled into her dreams.
    * * * *
    Something, movement, snapped her out of her sleep, and she opened her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness around her. It was the middle of the night. The bedside alarm clock blinked its red glow beside her, and it told her it was almost 3:00 AM.
    Something had woken her, pulled her from the deep sleep she had fallen into, but she didn’t know what. Movement again, from the hallway outside the room. Melissa sat up in bed and looked over at Mark. He appeared to be asleep; his breathing was deep and steady, his back rising and falling with each nocturnal breath.
    Something shuffled outside the door.