The Marvelous Elijah’s Return

Ungodly Hour

The sound of the tick and tock from the clock had Elijah’s feet bouncing on the tiles of the dining room floors as he stared at his watch, a sense of nervousness creeping into his chest.

It was Ten-thirty, and he had been staring at this same watch for hours now, still no sign of his wife.

Even though it was like her to come home late, He didn’t expect her to do so on their birthday since she knew how important today was to him.

Looking away from his watch, Elijah sighed and glanced up, the clock showing Eleven pm. Then his gaze directed to the phone, lying on the table, in front of him.

“Will she not pick up again?” Elijah asked out loud, his voice low and soft.

There was a brief pause before he reached for the phone, his fingers fumbling with it as he tried to dial Melina’s number.

“The number you have called  is currently unavailable…” A robotic female voice said on the other side of the line, causing Elijah to drop his head backward on the chair, a frown plastered on his face.

“Is she not going to answer me anymore?” He muttered in slight disappointment.

“Eleven Fifteen,” The clock on the wall read, and Elijah continued to be patient, hitting his foot repeatedly against the tiles.

Eleven twenty-two and still no sight of his wife. It has been the whole day since she left this morning that he had not seen her, and it was starting to worry him.

Elijah’s eyes wandered back towards his phone, then up to the clock again, watching the minutes tick by one by one until eleven-thirty.

That’s when Elijah finally had enough and woke from the chair, abandoning the table filled with food that he had made for Melina, and left the dining room.

The feeling of love is a heavy burden that weighed on Elijah’s heart for years since he married Melina and started living with her as a stay-at-the-home husband.

Respect was not something she would give to him often because of his low status in life, being a man who had no job and just lived off her.

given up on. His affection for her came first than anything else. She was the most important person in his life, and he felt like it was time for him to

room was not only to celebrate both of them thirty

five-story glass building, and the driver looked back at Elijah and

and gazed away from the time on his watch,

his cab fare, he pushed the cab door open and stepped out, and walked slowly towards the doors,

flashlight in Elijah’s face, and then furrowed his brow as he let out, “Mr.  Elijah

name, and people usually looked down on him for taking her

say, even though most of them said he was doing so to use Melina for her

Elijah always knew better than to get involved in such petty arguments with people he did not want to associate

security questioned in an irritated tone, eyeing the watch on Elijah’s wrist as if looking for something that

plainly, making sure that the guard knew who

men as the security continued staring him down, his cold demeanor

me?! Is that damn thing on your wrist not working?!” The security exclaimed, glaring at him as if Elijah was some criminal. “Don’t you know how to tell time or something? If you weren’t Mrs. Hayes’ husband, I would

Melina, his worth in the eyes of others had changed drastically because he was a stay-at-home husband, and people saw that as him being a useless man who leeches on the wealth and power of his wife,

wife still in the building? I know she stays here late to get work done, so can you please take me to

mouth, the security became visibly annoyed by his attitude, as if he had said something offensive, and then he lashed out at Elijah, “Look, Mr. Hayes! You don’t have the right to barge into this building without any warning at such an hour

his chest, making him clench

the security strode in front of him, pushing his palms against Elijah’s

Or I will call for backup and  have your ass kicked out of here!” The security shouted at Elijah, who remained rooted on the spot in shock and anger,

a step back, restraining himself from reaching up to slap the guard in the face, who

dare  you try to enter the building without

hands into both his trouser pockets to

the security eyes was unsettling as he pointed an accusing finger at Elijah and asked, “Mr.

moment and then asked, “Did you say only the

madder. His fist clenched into a tight ball as he took