"The Woman"

By Arpi Vanyan

Do you know why people go away from us or become indifferent?
Or do you know why our children stop listening to us, become strangers and have aggressive behavior.
Do you know why the life never gives us, what we want or what we miss. Or why can't we feel happy and self sufficient?
Because one day we stopped to believe that we are worth the best, one day we lost our dream, one day we lowered our bar and life began to match our opinion of ourselves.
All the details about these and all the solutions of these You can find in book "The Woman" . After reading the book nobody stays the same as he was before reading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387522163

Book preview

The Woman

Author – Arpi Vanyan

COPYRIGHT. 2022 Arpi Vanyan. All rights reserved

Published by Arpi Vanyan

ISBN-978-1-387-52216-3

The woman nervously turned the key in the keyhole. The door opened. She went in hastily getting rid of her clothes right in the hallway. With one movement she threw her flowery dress onto the floor and walked into the bathroom on her way getting rid of her lingerie as well. She turned on the tap, let her long blond hair like sea waves loose and stepped into the shower.

The hot water embraced her body feeling like salvation. Once in the shower, she let go of her suppressed tears which blending with the water caressed her body trying to sooth and console her. The woman closed her eyes with her hands and sobbed loudly. She could still feel the traces of the man’s kisses on her body which were both burning, compulsory, shameful to death and … sweet. She was as if trying to wipe them off with her fingers and rip them off of her skin. A thousand times she had promised herself it would be the last time ever and that she would never see him again but she’d been unable to resist and couldn’t help meeting him one more time.

She tensed; her cellphone was persistently ringing in the hallway. She turned off the tap, wrapped herself in the towel and ran to the hallway. Her husband. She gave it a quiet look and left without answering the phone.

Slowly she put on her house dress, carelessly dried her hair and went to the kitchen. What was he going to say? That he’s coming? Well, let him… So? Once again he’ll come in and once again he’ll notice nothing - neither another’s kisses stamped on her body, nor her cheeks burning with shame, nor the voice of her screaming soul, nor the tears frozen on her face… Once again they’ll dine together and each of them will go to their separate corner, he

Her name’s Eve. Eve… Once, when she had asked her mother why they had called her Eve, her mother had said, ‘So you might have a life as distinguished as your name is’. Then she had added that it’s the shortened form of Eva - the first mother of all beings.

Eve had beautiful distinguished eyes, long and wavy distinguished hair, but not distinguished height, not distinguished body, and not distinguished destiny. There was a

1

time her dreams also were distinguished but with time they had all vanished and now she doesn’t have any dreams for they hurt… they hurt too much.

She looked about. The fried potatoes on the stove were almost getting burnt. She turned the gas off and ran to the hallway; the phone was ringing again. Again her husband. She frowned. Why’s he calling? She picked the phone. A strange female voice on the other end said, Your husband has had a car crash.

***

She didn’t realize how the night gave way to the dawn. The whole night she was in a nightmare; the sound of the artificial respiration machine kept buzzing in her ears. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her husband. He looked like a corpse attached to god knows how many different wires, tubes and machines. Then the doctor came in. He was explaining something at length. Eve didn’t seem to hear him; she was as if in another reality. What she got was that the woman in the same car with her husband was killed and her husband was in a coma.

Tears welled up in her eyes. The doctor looked at her pitifully, murmured some consoling words and left.

Eve looked at her husband’s almost inanimate body and suddenly burst into a hysterical laughter which was hurting every cell in her system. Tears and unrestrained laughter tried to rip off from her life all the pain and the hurt and all the longing for the unlived happiness. She ran out of the room, then down the corridor, then out of the hospital and passed through endless pavements, faces, voices and fell to the ground unconscious.

***

There was a bright and warm light and some people around her who looked more like angels standing in a strange queue. Eve was looking about trying to guess where she was. There was so much love there, such infinite love none has ever experienced. In a split moment she saw her husband among the people and cried out to him but he hurried away to join the queue. Eve then felt the heat go down and the pain intensify. Slowly she opened her eyes. There was severe pain around her temple. She touched her head. Her hand got moist with blood. She smelled dampness. She looked around; it was a tiny simple room. An old man came in with a glass of some bluish-green water in his hand. Silently he handed it to Eve. Eve took the glass, sipped from it and frowned.

Where am I? she said.

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Where you ought to be.

Eve felt somewhat intimidated.

Am I dead?

No, answered the old man mysteriously.

Can I go? she said.

You are free in all your decisions, just the way you decided to fall down and hit your head.

Eve was amazed. She took another sip from the bluish-green liquid and felt that the pain was gone.

Did I make such a decision?

We make decisions all the time and every moment; all we need is to realize it and pay attention to non-accidental coincidences.

The old man left the room. Eve got up and followed him hastily. On the other side of those damp walls there pulsed the big and dangerous world.

The phone rang. It was her mother. Why’s she calling? Why… why? Eve was frantically trying to remember. After hitting her head her mind seemed to have gotten blurry. Ah… Yes! She remembered; this was the day she usually came over to do the housework for her mom.

Part 2

Her head bent, she was sitting in front of her aging mother and was listening to her endless reproaches swallowing her annoyance, pain and insult. For as long as she could remember herself her mother had always rebuked her and always tried to show her the right way or point out her mistakes or give her advice or teach her the right way to live. So many times had she heard those words that any feeling of rebellion had gotten frozen inside her. If only her mother would, by some miracle, stop talking now, rise to her feet and come up to her, hug her heart to heart and say, I am by your side my daughter and I love you the way you are. Don’t be depressed, don’t be desperate! Everything will be alright; you are strong. Let me help you!

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Eve dried off her tears and looked into her mother’s eyes. They were full of discontent. She left her seat hurriedly and started to do what she had come for and for what reason she visited her mother three days a week; the housework and the cooking.

Today, as usual, she was doing the chores while her mother’s words were ringing in her ears.

I knew… I knew you would one day destroy your family. It’s your fault that your husband has had an accident. How many times have I told you how a wife should behave?! But you never listen to me, nor are you listening now. You’re a failure; you’ll never measure up to anything… You are my biggest pain!

Eve closed her ears with both hands and ran out of the room. She couldn’t take it anymore!

***

Dragging her feet with difficulty she reached the entrance of her house. It was already dark; she mounted the stairs, then stopped suddenly hearing some sounds of crying. The voice was familiar. She quickened her steps and running up two staircases thrust herself to her daughter cuddled on the stairs crying desperately. She took her in her arms. The girl was sobbing hugging her mother’s neck. She’d forgotten about her child in this long as a century day’s nightmare. She made up her mind then and there that she would no longer tolerate that stupid nanny who had left the child on the stairs without warning and had left.

Please, forgive me, Ava, forgive me, my child! she repeated through tears and took her inside with her.

***

Two hours later, Ava was fast asleep with her arms around her mother’s neck. Eve took her tiny arms away from around her neck, kissed them and turning the light off left for the living-room. Right then she received a message. It was Ben, her boss and her lover at the same time.

Eve frowned and cast the phone aside. Another buzz; another message. She opened, read it; Let’s leave for the countryside tomorrow, miss you.

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Eve felt her