Paradigm

Roxanne groans as she slowly opens her eyes, her head feels like being hammered, making her dizzy around her surroundings. Her vision is blurry and the continuous irritating white noise from the background doesn't help in her current situation. She carefully sits up from the bed, massaging her temples while thinking about the last night's incident. Right, she just trespassed her in-laws at god-only-knows-what hour. She looks beside her. There is a nightstand with a digital clock which says '7:00 AM'. Too early, she thinks. She is about to take a nap again when a knock was heard.

"Roxanne are you still sleep?" a voice of a middle-aged man reverberated inside the room. It must be her father-in-law, she sighs and slides her feet to the ground, feeling yet again the sense of proprioception on her feet.

She feels the tickling sensation of the rag's fabric below her feet as she walks towards the door. She opens it up and saw Mark, softly smiling at her.

"Good morning Roxanne, someone is looking for you." A spark of hope passes through Roxanne's eyes, thinking that could be her loving husband. She wastes no time and pushes Mark away. The middle-aged man is in shock for a moment but later on reverts back to his stoic expression. Roxanne rushes downstairs and the sound of heavy footsteps resonating as her vision catches a tall man on his back, having a deep conversation with Maria. Roxanne thinks that the man is Jason, he is wearing a white sleeve polo shirt with vertical black stripes on it just like how her husband always wears for work partnered with a beige slack and an earpiece in his left ear. She was about to call him when Maria gestured the guy to turn around. Roxanne suddenly halts on her tracks as she was disappointed to look at the guy's face. He is not Jason. "I-I'm sorry, I thought it was Jason."

"Is it her, Madame?" the guy ignores her as he looks over to Maria. The mother-in-law nodded. Roxanne throws them a perplexed stare, mentally asking what they are talking about. After a few moments, the guy fishes out a handheld transceiver. He murmurs something on it while looking straight at Roxanne. The latter suddenly feels a foreboding, she sluggishly steps backwards and she catches on her peripheral vision that Maria is looking at her intently. They must be planning something and she doesn't feel good about this. Unceremoniously, a group of nurses emerge from the door and quickly approach Roxanne. She was trying to escape when a couple of hands stopped her, she squirms in discomfort, yelling and begging the nurses to let her go. But their holds only tighten as they walk her forcefully to the door. She looks back at the couple with tears and betrayal on her eyes. She can't believe they have done this to her. Her own in-laws.

Roxanne keeps twisting her body, trying to break free from the hands of these filthy people. She is slowly losing consciousness and the darkness gradually enveloping her vision. They are about to push her to the ambulance car when a sudden tug of hand pulls her away from her captors. Her back is hit by a strong chest and she finally feels again the feeling she always craves and longing for since forever. The warmth of someone, encaged on his sturdy arms. The embrace of his shoulder and the hot breath that tickles her light skin on her neck and that soft deep voice she misses so much. No doubt this is her husband, Jason.

"Jason?!" she exclaimed as tears fall to her cheeks. She feels a hand wiping her tears away. Those rough hands really hit her feelings as she cries more. Jason holds her in her arms but her vision is getting darker. She wants to see Jason's face before she blacks out. She missed her husband's features. She lifts up her hand and traces the jawline of her husband and with one last look in his blue eyes, a mirror similar to an ocean, windy and calming.

"Roxie," he mutters. How much Roxanne missed him calling that endearment. Roxanne smiles, content, as she closes her eyes, feeling the warmth of home again in his husband's embrace. "I'm glad you are back, Jay."

Roxie wakes up in a king-sized bed. She looks over the room and she recognizes it as their bedroom. Her husband brought her back home, grey walls with blacks, large sliding windows on the side with a balcony. The sunlight is blocked by the heavy curtains making the room more serene and dimmer which makes her feel safe. In front of her is a large TV set, the TV is hanged to the wall and a table below it where there are big speakers on each side of the table and DVD player quietly sits in the center. She stands up from her bed and walks towards a table with drawers. There are photo frames on top of the table. She looks at them one by one. A photo of Jason and his dad. She suddenly realizes that he and his father are almost alike. Like twins but in different timelines. There is also a photo of her and Jason in a beach, she is wearing two-piece swimsuit and Jason only wearing a beach short. Roxie blushes at his husband's body and hastily looks away. The other photos are just him and his parents. She runs her fingers all over the frames, her mind is floating elsewhere and she just stands there doing nothing. A twist of a knob snaps her back to reality. She glances over the door and there she saw her husband with a tray of food. Jason is looking at her with a calming smile.

"How are you feeling?" Jason says as he places down the tray on the bed. He walks over to Roxanne, plants both of his hands to her waist.

"I'm fine now, because you are already here." Roxie smiles and hugs her husband. She loves the smell of her husband's chest and she would love to spend the whole day just smelling it.

"Alright, alright love. Come and eat your meal already." Her husband motioned her to sit on the bed.

"Did you cook this? It's delicious." Roxie compliments while taking a bite of the steak.

"The one and only," Jason jokes.

Roxie playfully smacks his chest but the former only laughs. His laughter makes Roxie feel at ease again. She wishes they will just stay like this forever. After that, they cuddled in bed, endlessly tickling each other. They mostly talk about their future and having kids, they also talk about what happened to them in these past few days and that gives Roxie an opportunity to talk about the strange incident earlier.

"Jason," Roxie calls out. Her head is laying in Jason's chest and the latter caressing her hair. Jason hummed a reply. "Earlier, your parents said you already died when you were just five and they don't even know me. They even called the mental hospital on me. Good thing you are there just in time, love. Can't you believe that?" After that there is a pause. Roxie doesn't look up to see his expression and just waited for his response. After a moment of still no response, Roxie creases her brow and looks up to Jason. He was just staring blankly at the ceiling, absentmindedly caressing her hair. Roxie smacked his chest to let him out of his trance. Jason abruptly looked back at her and stop playing with her hair.

"W-well you know how old people forget so easily right? Maybe they are just in a bad mood." Although Roxie doesn't believe that much on the forget part since his parents are still in a middle-aged, she just hums in agreement. Silence follows and none of them dare to speak again. Both enjoy the sound of silence and the comfort of each other. The sun is already setting and flock of birds are flying to the horizon, as what Roxie sees on the window.

"Golden Hour," Roxie blurts as she watches the birds disappear in plain sight.

"Yup." Jason follows her gaze. He stands up and Roxie looks up at him.

"Where are you going?" she asks while Jason is walking towards the door. "I'll make us dinner."

"Oh, alright. I'll just take a bath then."

"Alright, love. I love you."

"I love you, too."

It is already dark when Roxie finished taking a bath. She dons a red robe and a towel on her head. She hums while walking towards the vanity table. She starts pampering herself with make-up, trying to look beautiful and seductive tonight. She wants Jason tonight and she knows he wants her too. She stops when her eye catches the ring in her finger. Its gem shines brightly, the color changes from blue to red. This is definitely an ancient ring. She finds it so strange and alluring.

That must be why this thing has been passed generation to generation. She thinks to herself. To preserve its legacy.

A bang was heard around the house the made her flinched from her seat. She stands up and opened the door. She hurriedly runs downstairs and straight to the kitchen.

There she sees her husband, lying lifelessly on the ground. A pool of blood is already surrounding his body. Roxanne rushes to him and sways it aggressively, trying to wake him up or see if he is still alive. But there are no movements nor breathing, his body already cold. She starts to panic and her mind is going haywire. She feels an object on her hands so she looks down is horror to see a gun on her palm. She abruptly throws the gun across the kitchen and sits down next to her dead husband. Blood on her hands and eyes widened in terror. She can't think straight and she suddenly hears some noise in the background. A noise of whisperings.

"Stop." she pleads as she closes her eyes and put her hands to her ears. But the voices continued and it became louder and louder.

"STOP!!"

She snaps back to reality as she sits up from a bed, catching her breath. Sweat pours all over her bod. Her eyes roam around the area and she realizes that she was back in the room her in-laws took her. She thought that it was all a dream or a nightmare. She calms down after a series of ragged breaths as her back finally slouches to the headboard. She glances beside her and the clock is still there and it says '7:00 AM'. That nightmare felt surreal. A knock is heard and she is guessing that was his father-in-law. She slides off to the bed and walks towards the door. She opened it and it was really her father-in-law but the expression Mark is giving to her is not exactly what she expected to be. It is still stoic from before but right now something behind those blue eyes isn't telling her. "Uh, hey dad." She mumbled, more like a whisper but Mark manages to hear it.

"Good morning, Roxanne. Let's go downstairs. Someone is dying to meet you in the kitchen." He says in a flat tone. Roxanne is hesitant for moment but decides to go along. They quietly walk down to the kitchen. Roxanne behind Mark, anxiously fidgeting her nails and thinking about whom she will meet. She hopes again that it will be Jason. And she is not wrong, it was Jason. Standing in front of the table, like he was waiting for her. His expression is similar from his dad earlier, stoic but there is something hidden behind their eyes. She side-eyes Maria who is sitting on the chair, staring only at the plate in front of her. She notices that the ring from her finger is gone.

She looks back at Jason, who is still staring at her weirdly. Her face crunches in confusion but eventually smiled fondly. She slowly approaches Jason and was about to hug him when the said husband vehemently swats her hands away. A look of disgust is visible in his eyes.

"Who are you?" he said with venom on his voice.

Roxanne looked at him incredulously, not able to speak or comprehend on what just happened.

"I said who are you? Why are you claiming to be my wife?"

"But I am really your wife. Jason!"

"You even know my name, huh"

"Please! Here's the wedding ring you gave to me in our wedding day."

"That's why my mother lost its own because you stole it. Thief!"

"What no? Jason I-"

"Call the police! Get your hands off to me you, crazy woman."

"JASON!-

-JASON!" she snaps back again to reality, heavy breathing and sweat all over her body. She sits up and places her hand on her forehead.

"Another nightmare-" she mumbles as she tries to catch her breath, someone twisted the knob from the door so her head automatically focuses on the door. Mark emerges through it and gave her a faint smile.

"Oh, sorry dad, I was just having a nightmare." She said, as she lowers her vision again into her hands laying on her thighs.

"Dad? What are you talking about honey?" He asks in total confusion. She looks up and saw Mark's inquisitive yet seductive glance. He slowly crawls to the bed, looking straight at her. HE touches her legs and caresses it up to her thigh.

Roxanne feels a jolt of sensation as she kicks Mark's abdomen.

"What the hell are you doing Mark?" she exclaims in anger as she stands up and walks over to the door.

"Mark? I am your husband Jason."

"What?"

"Honey, what the fuck. It hurts. I am just trying make love to you."

"Stop joking around Mark!"

"Fuck. I said I am Jason, your fucking husband. Are you blind honey?"

"No-no this is not happening." Roxanne said as she walks out the door, running just to get outside of this hellhole. She hears Mark screaming to come back to the room but she doesn't listen and runs straight towards the door.

She expected to see the morning sunlight and the gentle fall of the snow after she leaves the house but when she passed the door the scenery became black and white and there she is standing in the middle of the park, an umbrella on her hand. She is suddenly wearing a red dress and a flower hair pin on her hair. She sees right in front of her a path with trees surround her. There, she saw Jason, running towards her. Hands waving at her and his handsome smile that never fails Roxanne to make her heart skip. Then, it came to her.

She finally remembers everything.

This is the time when they first met each other.

And this is also the time when she decided to change everything.