A time to die (standard:mystery, 1345 words)
Author: Wendy	Added: Sep 27 2001	Views/Reads: 4001/2404	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A woman splits up from her husband and thinks about taking an overdose. She decides not to but then events carry on regardless.

A Time to Die It was thundering again, Gill was beginning to regret ever
coming to the cottage.  It had seemed such a good idea at the time, but 
now the sense of loneliness was overwhelming.  She could feel it in the 
electricity in the air.  She knew she was letting her feelings wash 
over her but in a way letting them out was weirdly refreshing.  She 
knew she should really get out of bed but why bother?  Who cared what 
time she got up.  It was only habit that made her have the idea she 
should get up.  What did it matter.  She had definitely drunk too much 
last night.  She knew she shouldn’t with the tablets she had been 
prescribed.  Those damn tablets, she thought that in a way her problems 
hadn’t really begun until she had to try and stop those damn tablets.  
The doctor had said that these were definitely her last bottle.  She 
had tried to stop a couple of times but her depression had come up and 
hit her in the face.  She knew she couldn’t stop now – She would have 
to get some more somehow.  This was why she had come to her Aunt’s 
cottage, she had to get a grip on herself. 

Her Aunt had died 4 months ago now.  People had told her it was time to
‘get on with her life’ and to ‘pull herself together’.   She had heard 
herself saying the same to other people in the past – not realising how 
futile those words really were.  Anyway, it was more like losing a 
mother than an Aunt.  She had been brought up by Aunt Louise since she 
was 6 when her mother and father had been killed in a car accident 
whilst in France.  She had no memory of her parents – the doctors had 
said it was a safety valve as she couldn’t cope with the memory. The 
doctor had suggested therapy but Aunt Louise didn’t hold with that sort 
of thing and wouldn’t hear of it. 

Aunt Louise had been both mother and father to her and spent her life
caring for Gill and now here was Gill all alone, since her husband had 
started divorce proceedings 2 months ago.  Gill thought ironically that 
the breakdown of her marriage had been partly due to money problems and 
now she was going to be quite wealthy – what with the sale of her 
Aunt’s cottage and her Aunt’s savings.  Anyhow, what was there to get 
up for.  The rumble of thunder in the distance was definitely getting 
closer.  Gill was not overly fond of thunder.  Not since she was told 
that her parents had died in a thunderstorm.  It was the weather that 
had caused their car to come off the road that fateful day when her 
father had decided to take her mother with him on a business trip.  
Someone had told her Aunt it was the worst storm they had ever seen and 
it was a tree that had come down and caused her dad to swerve. 

She lay in bed listening to the rumble and watched the flashes that had
a peculiarly comforting rhythm through the white nets onto the wall 
opposite. Anyhow, she had come to the cottage with half an idea of 
finishing off the last pot of her depression tablets with one of the 2 
bottles of vodka she had brought with her.  It wasn’t a real idea, just 
something in the back of her mind but it had been enough for her to 
stop off at an off licence on the way down and buy the alcohol.  She 
shuddered when she realised that she had even had the thought.  It 
would mean that Gary would inherit her cottage – he would have all her 
money and could spend it on his new girlfriend.  Not over her dead body 
she thought.  She wouldn’t let him have a penny.  She would rather give 
it to the cat’s home.  She smiled to herself at that thought, Gary 
detested cats.  Another reason she wondered why she had ever married 
him.  She smiled again when she thought that now she could have a cat 
of her own! She decided she would definitely get up in 10 minutes.  The 
thought of Gary had disturbed her peace, she would never get back to 
sleep now, not even if the storm stopped.  She was due back to work on 
Thursday.  Her sick leave had run out and the doctor had said it would 
do her good to get out and see people.  It had been 6 weeks now – he 
wouldn’t sign her off work any more. 

She decided that this trip to the cottage had definitely been a turning
point for her.  She had felt close to her Aunt again whilst she was 
here – it was the first time she had been at the cottage since Aunt 
Louise had died.  When she had walked through the door it had been 
quite  disturbing to see her slippers by her chair and her mug on the 
draining board.  It was as if she had just popped out as she did every 
day to get her paper. 

Another strange thing was something Gill had put down to the vodka.  She
had woken in the night with a strange feeling – it was a comfortable 
feeling of someone close – there was a smell she recognised, a perfume, 
she remembered it from her childhood.  It was a smell she realised she 


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