Once and Never Again

While I was half-conscious, I could hear people arguing.

"How could you push her when she just had a big operation? She could've died today!"

"It was just a little push... What do you mean her operation was to take out her uterus? You did that without asking me? Why?"

"She lost a lot of blood the last time she had a baby. We had to do the operation to save her life."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Charles, you need to take better care of your wife."

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Charles looking worried. He tried to smile and asked, "How are you feeling? I'm sorry. I didn't know about your operation."

I did not want to talk to him, so I turned my head away.

"I thought you just had a miscarriage and could still get pregnant again. If I had known you had to have your uterus removed, I would never have made you bend down to apologize."

"Go away," I said quietly.

Charles' smile disappeared, and he said in a low, stern voice, "Just because I caused this doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. No one else will want you now that you can't have kids. You're going to stay with me and behave."

I pulled my hand away slowly, each move hurting so much that I had to catch my breath.

"We're done talking about this. I won't blame you anymore."

After Charles had gone, I called the secret agency. "Are you all set?"

"We're all set."

I spent a few days resting up in the hospital, and then it was time. I snuck out and got a cab back home.

Everything went just as we planned. The cab crashed into a big tree and burst into flames, and it looked like the passenger did not make it out.

By the time the cops found the wreck, I was already chilling at a café down the street, drinking coffee and watching the whole thing go down.

The agency really thought of everything. They had people pretending to be just random folks on the street, filming and making sure everyone would buy that I was gone for good.

It was not long before Charles showed up, rushing over to the fire. When he saw the flames, he actually started laughing.

"Sophia, you've really outdone yourself with this stunt. You had me worried for a second there. Come on out, Sophia! Let's head home and talk this out."

The cops, not sure what to do, spoke up tentatively. "This isn't one of your wife's pranks. She's really gone. Please try to calm down."

"You're telling me my wife is dead? No way! She's too tough for that. You've got it all wrong."

"But it's true. We've confirmed it. Those are Sophia's remains."

The agency's people filmed in that direction, and I saw the fake body they had made to look like me. It was charred so badly that one could not see the face, but the size and shape matched mine. It was eerily convincing.

Charles' face was all scrunched up for a few seconds, but then he relaxed. "How much did Sophia pay you to go along with this? Even getting a fake body? Sophia, I bet you're hiding out close by. This has gone too far!"