This is the first story I have written in the third person. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but I think it went well. I like that I'm able to explore the thoughts and emotions of multiple people instead of just one person. I have several storylines in mind, so this may go on for several episodes. I hope you enjoy it. As always, I apologize for any typos I missed while reviewing.
*****
Sue Higgins is a quiet, unassuming woman of 23 who lived with her boyfriend of 6 years, Todd, in a small 1 bedroom apartment near the local University. She worked as a receptionist for a small advertising firm and was the sole wage earner because Todd was busy with graduate school getting his MBA. Their arrangement had been that Sue would work while Todd studied and when he finished with his studies they would marry and start a family. Todd had graduated the previous week and had been working hard getting interviews for future employment and had hinted that he had landed an opportunity with one of the biggest finance companies in the country.
On this day, Sue was in a great mood because she could feel that her life's ambitions would be coming to fruition very soon when Todd secured a good position. She had been dreaming about her wedding for years and knew just the gown she wanted for the occasion. She had been saving money for the big day since she and Todd began living together and had made their pact. She, also, knew she would have to pay for her wedding because her parents had died several years earlier. Sue missed her parents but had moved on with her life with Todd.
On her way home from work, Sue had decided to stop at the store and buy something special for dinner tonight in anticipation of Todd announcing that he had been hired at the finance company. She bought a couple of steaks, baking potatoes, fixings for salads and a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. When the check-out clerk told her the total, she used her debit card to pay the bill. After entering her PIN number, the little machine said that her checking account had insufficient funds. She tried the card several times with the same outcome. Sue noticed that the other people in line behind her were getting a bit frustrated, so she whipped out her credit card to pay for her groceries. Again, the little machine said that her card was refused. She apologized to the check-out person and the person behind her in line and decided to head home and call the bank.
Sue couldn't understand why her debit card said insufficient funds since she had been paid on this very Friday and the money was deposited automatically in the morning. As she pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, she had expected to see Todd's car parked in its regular spot, but failed to see it. When she entered her apartment, she was surprised to see a big mess as multiple items had been knocked over and several things were missing. She went into their bedroom and saw a note on the bed, picked it up and began reading;
Dear Sue,
I'm very sorry to say that I can no longer live with you. To tell the truth, I never
really loved you. I got a position with a big company in New York and have to
be there on Monday. I know you wanted to get married and everything, but
those plans were never going to happen. I know you will manage to get by and
I hope you have a good life.
Todd
Sue read the letter several times and couldn't believe what she was reading as tears began to form in her eyes. She looked in the closet and saw that all of his clothes had been removed and his chest of drawers had been emptied as well. She grabbed her laptop and pulled up their bank account and saw that their checking account was at zero and that their credit card was at its maximum. All of a sudden, it hit her that she was now alone in the world, dumped by the man that she loved and wanted to marry. The tears came hot and heavy as she began sobbing uncontrollably.
After having cried for over an hour, Sue decided she needed to get ahold of herself. She stripped off her clothes and wandered into the bathroom to take a shower. As she waited for the water to warm up, she stood in front of the mirror and assessed herself. She was about 5'4" tall with long brown hair and blue eyes. She had a good figure due to the time she spent at the gym. Her breasts were looked large on her small frame, but were very firm. Todd had always liked that she had long hard nipples that always seemed to be erect. Todd had, also, insisted that she shave her pubic hair because he said that he didn't like the look of pubic hair on women.
When the water had warmed, Sue got into the shower and tried to wash the weirdness of the day away, but no amount of scrubbing made her feel any better. Once clean, she dried herself and put on some old sweatpants and a sweatshirt and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. She didn't feel particularly hungry, but decided she should eat something to take her mind off of her troubles. After she ate, she watched the TV, but didn't really see what was on since she was so absorbed in her grief. Deciding that she wanted this day to end, Sue went to bed and cried herself to sleep.
As Sue awoke in the morning, she stretched feeling quite good and thought that she must have had a bad dream. She looked over to Todd's side of the bed and saw that it hadn't been slept in causing her illusion of a bad dream to come crashing down on her shoulders. She began crying again as the reality of her situation hit her hard. However, after a while, Sue decided to go to the gym like she did every Saturday morning and try to forget her misery. She packed her gym bag with her workout clothes and a towel and headed for the fitness center a few miles away.
Sue's workout was doing wonders for her as she pushed herself in an effort to put her problems behind her. She had done her weight routine and had moved to the stationary bikes and waited for one to become free. Finally, after 15 minutes a bike opened up, so Sue climbed on and began spinning easily allowing her legs to loosen up. She had gone through several intervals and was in a resting phase when she heard someone yell out 'TODD!' Sue whipped her head around thinking that, perhaps, her Todd had seen sense and was coming back for her. She was bitterly disappointed as the Todd in the gym was a 40-year-old man she had never seen before.