Unmasking The Monster: A Wife's Fight

omach just looking at it. It was from a lab, a follow-up to a routine health screening the national team required

the page, my eyes catching on medical terms I didn't fully

Chlamydia

gain. And a

onal athlete. My body was a finely tuned machine, something I guarded and cared for more than an

sed, and Mark walked in, drop

Ava. Lo

the city' s public service department, handsome, charming, and everybody loved him. My parents, both respected prof

my voice quiet. "

glanced at it, his exp

, the lab results.

ting stronger. "It' s not g

annoyance? panic?-crossing his face before it was

it says. It' s common. You probably got it fr

doctor's note at the bottom suggested it could be a simple UTI, but the lab re

, Mark. It says chlamy

a, you' re overreacting. It' s probably a false positive. You k

phone, which he' d left on the counter, buzzed. The s

onight. Wear that

rigerator humming became deafening. I looked from the phone

as a

n my face, and his eyes darted to his

s not what

low. I picked up the phone. He took a step

unlocked his phone. He used the same simple passcode for

d his m

ca. There was a Sara

s, plans for secret meetings, conversations about me. He told one of them I was too focused on my career, th

e room started to feel small, th

started ringing in my hand. The screen flashed with a p

inking, I

r watch at my place again,"

there, listening to her breath

Her tone shifted, becoming shar

finally managed to

t, ugly laugh fr

me about you. Said you were no fun

ne wen

kitchen. I looked at Mark. He wasn't even trying to look sorry anymore

eered. "You satisfied, digg

hat sounded more like a sob. "How many,

' t a false positive. And it wasn' t from the gym. It was from him. From one of them. Or all of them. The thought of the sheer number

g, a shrill, insistent sou

d slightly. "Don

daze. I needed air. I needed someone else in

dressed impeccably, her hair perfectly style

e neighborhood and thought I'

nded on Mark. Then her gaze dropped to his phone, lying on the counter where I' d dropped it.

ast me into

here?" she demande

l visible on the screen. Before I could r

y arm, her nails di

r face inches from mine, twisted in r