Kate's Last Chance for Happiness
by Lee Carrick
Genre: Drama
Swearwords: None.
Description: Will the big night result in true happiness for Kate?
_____________________________________________________________________
As the time approached five thirty Kate began to get excited. She couldn’t wait to get home; she had a big night planned. Tonight she would finally find happiness.
Her confidence was based on very simple trial and error, she’d tried everything else in the eternal search for that feeling everyone else seemed to experience at least once a day. She would watch secretly as her colleagues displayed the emotion with their smiles; they would get a text from a new lover, an old lover, a friend or a family member and their faces would light up with that unmistakable emotion. Kate had become so obsessed that she could spot the expression from one hundred feet away.
Kate had taken the advice of experts, her friends and her parents but nothing seemed to work. She had lost herself in love, found herself in travel, gave herself to a career, mortgaged herself to a home and furnished it with pretty things. She’d gone to university and left with a first. She’d attended parties, relaxed on holidays in Turkey and passed her driving test first time. Her friends were impressed with her commitment to her hobbies, she swam three times a week regardless of fatigue or illness and she had become an excellent chess player. And yet happiness never came.
Kate was not devoid of all emotion, she was passionate about reading, she became excited when she made a big sale at work, she would cry at sad movies and she loved her boyfriend. She would lose her temper with her parents when they interfered in her life and she hated her father. Injustice made her so frustrated that occasionally she would get migraines so terrible that she would be forced to her bed for a day or two. Kate was nothing if not emotional but the emotion she truly longed for had eluded her for twenty five years.
Anyway it didn’t matter now, she’d realised what it was and she knew how to get it; tonight she would finally find happiness.
Kate rushed home from work and arrived at her front door out of breath. She wanted to make everything perfect before her parents arrived for their monthly dinner at her place. Every month on 27th Kate would cook her speciality Thai green curry for them and every month her father would complain that it was too spicy; she would ask if he wanted something else and he would continue to eat begrudgingly. But this evening Kate had a surprise for him.
She took the beef out of the fridge; it had been marinated in wholegrain mustard all day, his favourite. She was going to cook it in a casserole and serve it with garlic mash. It was her grandmother’s recipe and her father loved it. She prepared the food ready for cooking, ran herself a bath and lit some scented candles and poured herself a glass of red wine.
She soaked in the bath for forty five minutes, her taste buds savouring the deep tasting alcohol and her nostrils filled with the smell of flowers. She wanted to be beautifully clean when they arrived. She dragged her shining body from the tub and looked at her wet skin in the mirror, it was glistening and she looked wonderful, she was a handsome woman, not pretty but her face was strong and her eyes were big and sexy.
Kate wrapped herself in a towel and put the casserole in the oven. She put the potatoes in a pan of boiling water then went to her bedroom to get dressed. She had bought a new dress on her lunch break that day; it was a dark blue with a simple white flower pattern, a classy little number, she thought.
When the potatoes were cooked and soft she poured in some melted butter, Lurpak of course, chopped some smoked garlic (that was the secret, the garlic must be smoked) and dropped it into the pan. She took her time to mash the potato until it was creamy with no lumps in site.
It was seven thirty five and her parents would be here in ten minutes, they were never late. She placed the food on the plates carefully and set the table.
She looked at her work and felt proud, the food smelled amazing, she looked beautiful and her apartment was pristine. At seven forty five precisely the intercom rang, the security guard said her parents had arrived and asked if he should let them in. She said yes. She lived on the twenty first floor; only a few minutes before they are here.
She sat down in her place at the table, took the knife from beside the steaming hot plate and drove it forcefully into her left wrist dragging vertically down her arm and back to the bottom of her hand. She lay back in the chair, blood spraying around the room and staining her new dress. She became very faint and as her front door opened she looked deep into her father’s eyes, she saw the shock, the pain and the terror and she smiled, she closed her eyes for the last time, happy at last.
Swearwords: None.
Description: Will the big night result in true happiness for Kate?
_____________________________________________________________________
As the time approached five thirty Kate began to get excited. She couldn’t wait to get home; she had a big night planned. Tonight she would finally find happiness.
Her confidence was based on very simple trial and error, she’d tried everything else in the eternal search for that feeling everyone else seemed to experience at least once a day. She would watch secretly as her colleagues displayed the emotion with their smiles; they would get a text from a new lover, an old lover, a friend or a family member and their faces would light up with that unmistakable emotion. Kate had become so obsessed that she could spot the expression from one hundred feet away.
Kate had taken the advice of experts, her friends and her parents but nothing seemed to work. She had lost herself in love, found herself in travel, gave herself to a career, mortgaged herself to a home and furnished it with pretty things. She’d gone to university and left with a first. She’d attended parties, relaxed on holidays in Turkey and passed her driving test first time. Her friends were impressed with her commitment to her hobbies, she swam three times a week regardless of fatigue or illness and she had become an excellent chess player. And yet happiness never came.
Kate was not devoid of all emotion, she was passionate about reading, she became excited when she made a big sale at work, she would cry at sad movies and she loved her boyfriend. She would lose her temper with her parents when they interfered in her life and she hated her father. Injustice made her so frustrated that occasionally she would get migraines so terrible that she would be forced to her bed for a day or two. Kate was nothing if not emotional but the emotion she truly longed for had eluded her for twenty five years.
Anyway it didn’t matter now, she’d realised what it was and she knew how to get it; tonight she would finally find happiness.
Kate rushed home from work and arrived at her front door out of breath. She wanted to make everything perfect before her parents arrived for their monthly dinner at her place. Every month on 27th Kate would cook her speciality Thai green curry for them and every month her father would complain that it was too spicy; she would ask if he wanted something else and he would continue to eat begrudgingly. But this evening Kate had a surprise for him.
She took the beef out of the fridge; it had been marinated in wholegrain mustard all day, his favourite. She was going to cook it in a casserole and serve it with garlic mash. It was her grandmother’s recipe and her father loved it. She prepared the food ready for cooking, ran herself a bath and lit some scented candles and poured herself a glass of red wine.
She soaked in the bath for forty five minutes, her taste buds savouring the deep tasting alcohol and her nostrils filled with the smell of flowers. She wanted to be beautifully clean when they arrived. She dragged her shining body from the tub and looked at her wet skin in the mirror, it was glistening and she looked wonderful, she was a handsome woman, not pretty but her face was strong and her eyes were big and sexy.
Kate wrapped herself in a towel and put the casserole in the oven. She put the potatoes in a pan of boiling water then went to her bedroom to get dressed. She had bought a new dress on her lunch break that day; it was a dark blue with a simple white flower pattern, a classy little number, she thought.
When the potatoes were cooked and soft she poured in some melted butter, Lurpak of course, chopped some smoked garlic (that was the secret, the garlic must be smoked) and dropped it into the pan. She took her time to mash the potato until it was creamy with no lumps in site.
It was seven thirty five and her parents would be here in ten minutes, they were never late. She placed the food on the plates carefully and set the table.
She looked at her work and felt proud, the food smelled amazing, she looked beautiful and her apartment was pristine. At seven forty five precisely the intercom rang, the security guard said her parents had arrived and asked if he should let them in. She said yes. She lived on the twenty first floor; only a few minutes before they are here.
She sat down in her place at the table, took the knife from beside the steaming hot plate and drove it forcefully into her left wrist dragging vertically down her arm and back to the bottom of her hand. She lay back in the chair, blood spraying around the room and staining her new dress. She became very faint and as her front door opened she looked deep into her father’s eyes, she saw the shock, the pain and the terror and she smiled, she closed her eyes for the last time, happy at last.
About the Author
Lee Carrick is in his twenties. Originally from South Shields, he now lives in Edinburgh. His biggest passions in life are writing and travelling, and he likes to combine the two. He has been writing poetry since he was 15, but only recently began to write fiction. He was inspired to write by Ian Banks' The Wasp Factory and Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors. The Care Home, his first novella, is a McStorytellers publication.
Lee’s full profile can be read on McVoices.
Lee’s full profile can be read on McVoices.
