The Good Wife

Everyone thought my wife, Sarah, was a saint.

Sweet, understanding, always putting others first. They all thought she was head-over-heels for me. Man, they envied me for landing such a catch.

Then the accident happened – me and my brother, Jake, got slammed in a pile-up.

Without a second thought, Sarah left me, the guy with a wrecked leg facing amputation, to comfort Jake, who'd barely gotten a scratch.

My mom said I was being dramatic. "Honey, you had a whole team of doctors fussing over you, Jake only had us.”

My sister, Lisa, also jumped down my throat: “You only almost lost a leg. Jake was traumatized."

It was insane. I was their actual blood, Jake was the reason I’d lost the use of my legs.

Why were they coddling him?

After getting stabbed in the heart countless times, I finally decided to let them go.

And then, they realized what they'd lost.

1

In the hospital, I looked at Sarah, begging her, “Sarah, my leg’s killing me."

“The doctors said there’s a good chance they’ll have to amputate. Can you please just stay with me?”

Sarah frowned, like I was asking too much, then took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Sweetheart, Jake's freaked out by the crash, won't let the doctors touch him. I gotta go over there, I'll be right back.”

She dropped my hand and practically ran out the door.

I reached out to her, but just grabbed a fistful of air.

In that moment, my heart ached more than my mangled leg.

What a joke.

My wife, the woman everyone called a saint, ditched me when I needed her most.

He’s scared? What about me?

Mom, who had been following Sarah, stopped in her tracks and glared at me, "Jake's a mess. Sarah's just going to check on him, what’s the big deal?"

"You got a whole team of doctors at your beck and call. Jake's got no one but us.”

"Jake is like family, the least we can do is be there for him.”

There it was again.

Every time, no matter what, she’d throw that in my face.

Just because he’s “family,” did I have to give everything up?

Lisa huffed next to her, “Come on, Tom, Sarah’s just comforting Jake. You always have to make it a competition? Why can’t you just grow up.”

“You might lose your leg, Jake was traumatized. "

"Just think about what you said. We will be back to check on you when you have thought this through."

They both took off, not even a look back.

I let out a bitter chuckle. That was my family.

Instead of offering support, they twisted the knife.

2

Barely had they left when the door swung open.

Jake, who was supposedly too scared to get his wounds treated, stood in front of me.

A nasty smirk plastered on his face, he said, "Looks like you’re still alive. Don’t worry, how does it feel to be about to lose your legs and have your wife dump you?”

"I told you a long time ago, this is my house, Sarah will always be mine.”

“Look at you, pathetic and hopeless. Go crawl back to whatever hole you came from.”

“A loser like you is going to lose everything, how are you even going to crawl without your ...