Little Don

Don entered his home, tossed his keys into a bowl on the table by the door, and removed his jacket to hang in the closet. When he closed the closet door, Juliet was beside him, smiling big. Kissing her, he asked how her day had been.

“Today was wonderful,” she assured him. “Little Donny has been an angel all day, enabling me to accomplish so much. I even made your favorite dinner tonight, a roast with vegetables smothered in gravy and biscuits. For dessert, there's a devil’s food cake.”

“Sounds wonderful. Do you work tonight?” Don asked his wife.

“Yeah, they called and asked if I could fill in for Natalie tonight. They couldn’t reach anyone else, so I agreed. The baby is asleep.” With those words, she kissed her husband goodbye and headed out.

Starved, Don went into the kitchen to eat. Seeing the baby monitor on the counter, he moved it to the table and turned it on before getting his food from the oven and sitting. Juliet had set a place at the table, complete with a beer.

Heaping a helping of the stewed meal on his plate, he began eating. Halfway through his second serving, he noticed the baby monitor was quiet. He finished his beer before picking up the monitor to check the batteries. Nothing was wrong with the monitor, though.

Worried, Don hurried down the hall to the stairs. Rushing, he ran to the nursery, wondering why his son was so quiet. Entering, he swiftly crossed to the crib and pulled back the blue blanket to find it empty.

Freaking out, he took off running down the stairs and back to the kitchen, where he had left his phone on the dining table. Grabbing the phone, he dialed his wife’s number, but she didn’t answer.

Thinking he’d call her at work, he dialed the nursing home’s number, and Livette answered. Worried, he asked for Juliette but was told she wasn’t there. He questioned whether she was supposed to be on duty, but Juliette’s supervisor informed him she wasn’t working that night. He attempted to call Juliette again, but she still didn’t answer.

He started to dial 911, growing more concerned. As he dialed, his eyes fell on the roast. Immediately, he ran to the sink and puked into the garbage disposal. Turning, he wiped his mouth. No, it couldn’t be.

Walking to the oven, Don opened the oven door. Inside was Juliette’s big roasting pan. Putting on oven mitts, he removed the hot pan and set it on the counter. Then he removed the lid.

And fainted dead away.

Don didn’t know how long he was out, but he finally came to. Sitting up, he regained his footing. Stepping back up to the pan, he looked inside, where a pacifier lay atop a note with his name.

“Bye Don. It’s over. I can’t live with you like this anymore. I’ve taken our son with me. I'll raise him as the daughter I've always wanted.”