The Loyalty Text - S01 E02

Story 3 months ago

The Loyalty Text - S01 E02

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

The Loyalty Test

The doorbell rang through the quiet house. It was a very loud sound. To Nia, it sounded like a big drum being hit right next to her ear. The sound made her jump in her seat. Her heart began to beat very fast. It felt like a small bird was trapped inside her chest and was trying to fly away. She looked at the door and then she looked at Andre. Andre did not look worried at all. He was a good man who always thought the best of people. He stood up from the sofa with a kind smile on his face. He walked toward the door. Each step he took felt like a heavy weight was being placed on Nia’s soul. She wanted to tell him to stop. She wanted to tell him not to open that door. But she could not move. She sat there and watched him.

Andre reached the door and turned the handle. When the door opened, the cool night air came inside. Standing there in the light of the porch was a woman. She had a very bright and wide smile. It was Kate. Nia felt her breath catch in her throat. Kate looked very different than she did in her pictures. She was wearing a beautiful dress that was the color of the sky. She held a small paper map in her hands. She looked like someone who was lost and felt a little bit shy about it. She looked like she needed help. This was the trap that Nia had built. Seeing it happen in real life was much harder than Nia had ever thought it would be.

"Hello," Kate said. Her voice was not cold and sharp like it was on the phone. Now, her voice sounded like sweet honey. It was a soft and warm sound that would make anyone want to listen to her. "I am so sorry to bother you so late," Kate continued. "I just moved into this neighborhood and I am still trying to find my way around. I am looking for the local grocery store, but I cannot find it. Could you please help me?" She held up the map and looked at Andre with big, kind eyes. She looked like a lost lamb.

Andre was a very kind man. He loved to help people. He smiled back at Kate. He did not know that this was a test. He did not know that his wife was watching him from the dark hallway. "Oh, do not worry at all," Andre said. "I can help you. The store is not too far from here, but the roads can be a little bit confusing if you are new." Andre stepped out onto the porch so he could show her the map. He wanted to make sure she understood where to go. He was being a good neighbor. That was just the kind of person he was.

Nia watched them from the hallway. She stayed hidden in the shadows where they could not see her. Her heart was beating even faster now. She felt a sharp pain in her chest. It felt like a small pin was being pushed into her heart. She had paid for this to happen. She had asked Kate to come here. But seeing another woman smile at her husband made her feel sick. She saw how Kate laughed at something Andre said about the directions. It was a light and pretty laugh. Nia saw how Kate moved a little bit closer to Andre. Then, Nia saw something that made her want to scream. Kate reached out and touched Andre’s arm very lightly as she thanked him for his help. It was a small touch, but to Nia, it looked like a huge mistake.

Nia wanted to run out of the shadows. She wanted to tell Kate to go away and never come back. She wanted to grab Andre’s hand and pull him back inside their house. But she stayed very still. She told herself that she had to be strong. She told herself that this was just a test. She needed to know if Andre would stay true to her. She wanted to see if his heart was as strong as a rock. But as she watched them talk, she started to feel very sad. She realized that she was the one who was making this happen. She was the one who had invited a stranger to touch her husband’s arm.

Kate did not just walk away after Andre gave her the directions. She stayed and talked for a long time. She asked him about the neighborhood. She asked him if he liked living there. She made him laugh again. Andre seemed to be enjoying the conversation. He was just being friendly, but Nia saw it differently. To Nia, every second they spent talking was a second that Andre was moving away from her. She felt like she was watching her own house burn down and she was the one who had started the fire. Finally, after what felt like many hours, Kate said goodbye. She waved her hand and walked away into the dark night.

Andre closed the door and came back inside. He looked happy because he had helped someone. He saw Nia standing in the hallway and he walked over to her. "You will not believe it," he said with a smile. "A very nice lady just stopped by. She is our new neighbor. She was lost and needed to find the store. She seemed very kind." Nia had to act like she did not know anything. She had to pretend to be surprised. She felt like a liar. Her voice felt shaky as she spoke. "Oh, really?" she said. "That was very nice of you to help her, Andre."

Inside, Nia was trembling. She felt like she was made of glass and might break at any moment. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, but her hands were shaking so much that she almost dropped the glass. She looked at Andre. He was already thinking about other things. He was talking about what they should do the next day. He acted like nothing important had happened. To him, it was just a small moment in a long day. But to Nia, it was the start of something very scary. She felt a cold lump in her throat that would not go away.

That night, they went to bed. The house was very quiet. The moon was shining through the window, making long shadows on the floor. Andre fell asleep very quickly. He was breathing slowly and deeply. He was at peace. But Nia could not sleep. She stayed awake and stared at the ceiling. She kept seeing Kate’s smile in her mind. She kept thinking about the way Kate touched Andre’s arm. She felt a lot of regret. She wished she had never called Kate. She wished she could go back in time and stop herself from making that phone call.

Suddenly, a small light filled the room. It was not the moon. It was the screen of Andre’s phone. It was sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. Nia looked at the phone. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew she should not look at his messages. She knew that trust means giving someone privacy. But she could not stop herself. She reached out and picked up the phone. Her fingers were cold. She saw a notification on the screen. It was a message from a new contact. The name was not there, just a number.

Nia opened the message. Her eyes grew wide as she read the words. The message said, "Thank you for the help today, neighbor. I hope we can be friends. You are a very kind man." Nia felt like the world was spinning. The test was working, but she hated it. She hated how it felt to see another woman texting her husband. She hated that she was the one who had made this happen. She looked at Andre, who was still sleeping peacefully. He did not know that his life was being tested. He did not know that his wife was reading his messages in the middle of the night.

Nia put the phone back down. She felt a heavy weight on her chest. She felt like she was drowning in her own doubt. She had wanted to know the truth, but now the truth was starting to hurt. She realized that once you start a test like this, you cannot control how it ends. She had opened a door and now she was afraid of what was coming through it. She lay back down and closed her eyes, but she could not stop the tears from falling. The test had only just begun, and Nia was already losing her peace of mind. She wondered what Kate would do next. She wondered if Andre would reply to the message. The suspense was so thick that she could almost touch it.

She thought about the roses in her garden. She thought about how beautiful they were. But she also remembered that roses have thorns. If you are not careful, those thorns can make you bleed. Nia felt like she had reached out to grab a rose and had been poked by a very sharp thorn. She was hurting, and she did not know how to make the pain stop. She realized that trust is the most important thing in a marriage. Without trust, everything else starts to fall apart. She had tried to find trust by using a trick, but she was finding out that tricks only lead to more trouble.

As the night went on, Nia stayed awake. She watched the clock on the wall. Each tick of the clock felt like a warning. She felt like she was waiting for something bad to happen. She had wanted to see if Andre was like a rock, but now she was afraid that the rock might roll away. She was afraid that she was pushing him away with her own hands. She looked at the phone one last time before the sun started to come up. The light of the screen was gone, but the words of the message were burned into her mind. "I hope we can be friends." Those words felt like a threat. They felt like the beginning of the end.

Nia knew that the next day would be even harder. She would have to watch Andre and see if he hid his phone. She would have to see if he acted differently. She had created a monster, and now she had to live with it. She felt very small and very alone in the big bed. She wished she could go back to the way things were before the test. She wished she could just be happy with the beautiful house and the roses. But it was too late. The game was in motion, and Nia had to see it through to the end, even if it broke her heart.

If you saw a message like that on your partner's phone, would you ask them about it right away or stay quiet?

Do you think Andre was being too friendly to Kate, or was he just being a nice person?

Why do you think Kate sent that message so late at night? Do you think she is following Nia's plan, or is she doing something else?

Is Nia's jealousy making her see things that are not there, or is her gut feeling right?