She Played Dead for Her First Love—And Lost Everything

I was digging through a dumpster for leftovers when my wife, dead for three years, showed up.

She stepped out of a Rolls-Royce and looked down at me like I was part of the trash.

"Honey, you passed my test. Just like I knew you would."

I stood there holding a moldy bread roll.

Staring at her. Blank.

It turned out that three years ago, at a college reunion, her ex-boyfriend, the campus heartthrob, had made a proposal:

"I want to see if the two of you are really in love.

"Fake your death. Cancel all his cards. Take back the house.

"If he's still single after three years, you pass. You in?"

She'd laughed.

"Why wouldn't I be?

"George Graves is crazy about me. Forget three years. He'd stay faithful for thirty."

Now she turned to the man in the passenger seat and raised an eyebrow.

"Told you so."

The bread crumbled to pieces in my fist.

Marian Henson looked at me. "Alright, I'm here to take you and Fred Gravesdy home.

"Where is he?"

"Dead."

I lifted my eyes. "Three years ago, every card got declined. He didn't get his surgery. He died."

——

Marian froze.

Her gaze darted around the landfill.

There was nothing here but the endless stench and me, clutching a fistful of moldy bread.

I loved that boy down to my bones.

Wherever I went, Freddy went with me.

"Stop joking around."

A flicker of panic crossed Marian's face. "I mean it. I'm here to bring you both home."

"Home?"

My eyes were red when I looked up. "Three years ago, when you faked your death, they said you left behind a mountain of debt. They seized the house too.

"Freddy and I had nowhere to go. We've been out here ever since. What home?"

Her lips moved without sound for a long moment before she managed to speak.

"That... that was just part of the test. Don't worry, the house was always in my name. Come on, tell Freddy to stop hiding. Mommy wants to say sorry."

"Then go ahead."

I threw a death certificate in her face.

"Go down there and apologize to him yourself."

When the paper landed in her hands, her fingers trembled.

"Freddy..."

She read the words. Sudden cardiac death. Her eyes went red instantly.

"I was only gone three years. How can he be gone?

"You're lying to me, aren't you?"

Marian grabbed my shoulders. "I know I was wrong. Stop putting on an act to punish me. Just let Freddy come out!"

I just looked at her.

A cold, contemptuous curl at the corner of my mouth.

The hands gripping my shoulders shook.

Marian stared at me, and tears slid down her face.

"Marian, how can you not see through something this obvious?"

Frederick Delgado picked up the death certificate.

"Look. Doesn't it remind you of the one I forged for you three years ago?"

He pointed to the stamp at the bottom.

"It's not even as good as the one I made.

"See here? That's not how an official seal gets placed."

He let out a scoff and looked at me. "Mr. Graves, we've both been through this before. Trying to fool us with something like this? That's bringing a knife to a gunfight."

Marian blinked, coming back to herself.

Frederick kept pointing things out to her.

"Look at the signature. It's so stiff you can't tell? And this paper, it's obviously been aged on purpose. You went through the whole process three years ago. Mr. Graves here is actually pretty experienced. He even predicted you'd come find him today, dressed himself in rags and waited for you at the dump."

"You're full of it!"

My eyes burned red.

Marian only frowned.