Strings

Chapter 3

 "Secondly, I would like to thank you all for coming here, and helping me enjoy this wonderful profit. But I did not only invite you here to celebrate my company's success, again."

 Everyone, except Jack, laughed again.

"I invited you all here, to let you know..." He trailed off, and glanced to Kellie at his side.

 She and Jack had been divorced for 12 years straight. 12 years; and Jack knew that one day, that at least one of them, would eventually find someone else to replace the other. It just went to chance that Kellie found one and Jack didn't in all that time. He knew this day would come, knew it like the back of his hand. Which still made him  feel pretty xxxx stupid on how shocked he was when, Kellie--not Chris, which only made it worse-- said it.

"We're engaged!"

 A round of applause filled the entire house as the now-engaged couple showed off their affection by kissing in front of them all. He steeled his body to keep itself from doing anything of its' own accord, but Jack was starting to get that twinging sensation in his joints. Very carefully, he turned his whole body to the table behind him, and tried his best to drown out every other noise he could hear. He got his glass again, and filled it up, until some of it splattered onto his hand. Hoping he wasn't being noticed, since he really wasn't, Jack moved through the living room, and walked to the nearest doorway he saw.

 The hall he was now walking in barely had any people, so he was able to drink as lax as he was used to. He came upon a door with a plastic-looking glass window on it. It lead to a balcony, one he didn't see when he came, which means that it was located at the back of the house. Closing the door, but not completely, Jack moved to stand against the black Gothic-design railing.

"That's pretty high." Jack thought as he surveyed the height.

 From outside, he didn't think the house looked that big, or tall, but now as he saw that there was at least 13 feet between the balcony and the cemented patio below, a by-stander would easily deduce that it was enough for a good suicide.

 Jack hummed to this thought, and almost leaned ever-so forward to the railing in motor response.

"I hope you're not going to jump."

 Jack practically spilled the rest of his drink onto the patio as he almost lost his balance. Unluckily, though, a hand that he didn't want to come into any contact with, grabbed him by the shoulder and managed to pull him away from a near fall.

"God! Don't scare me like that!" Kellie gasped as she kept a firm grip on his shoulder even as his balance got back to normal.

 When Jack realized that it was her holding him, his body practically omitted some sort of sensory nerve that Kellie had sensed and made her let him go.

"Are you okay? You... You just suddenly upped and left the living room like..."

 It was odd. Earlier at the driveway it was easy for him to speak to her. Probably because Chris had been there, even though his presence made the situation even more awkward. But now, because they were alone, it was almost impossible to say a thing.

"I'm fine.." Jack said finally, even when he completely looked the opposite.

"So engagement, huh? It's that far already." Jack said after a while.

"Yeah.. It's.. It's been crazy.. We've been talking about it for a while now.. and. We just thought it was finally time." Kellie said with a chuckle.

"When are you guys gonna seal the deal?" Jack asked.

"We're still working on that. We're thinking of December." Kellie replied quickly.