The ordinary strangler - An original story Part one

For the third morning in a row, Peter woke up with a startle. He checked his phone and saw that it was only three in the morning. He got up to use the bathroom, and then went straight back to bed. Just like the other three mornings he had an extremely difficult time to fall asleep again. Somewhere in his unconscious mind something was brewing, and he had no idea what it was.  

He was nearly forty-eight years old, and it suddenly felt as if he had done absolutely nothing productive with his life. Perhaps he was going through a midlife crisis? He lay back thinking about his current day and then about life in general. His life had no complications, and for the last twenty-seven years, he had literally nothing to complain about. Was it normal to have such a good life?  He knew that he should feel blessed, but it has always felt as if there was a part of his life missing.  

He had a great job, he was married to a wonderful woman, and he had a beautiful daughter, but was that really enough? Was that all life was about? He didn't want to wake up one morning and find that his whole life had passed him by, and he didn’t enjoy it.  

He turned onto his side and stared at his beautiful wife Sylvia. Her long brown hair was sprawled out over the pillow, and he could see the grey hair glistening in the moonlight shining through the window. 

He has loved Sylvia since middle school, and they were barely twenty-one when they got married. Everyone warned them that it was too early, and they still had a lifetime in front of them, but they didn’t want to wait. They knew it was the right thing to do. 

Jessie was born about a year later, and she completed their lives. They were a happy couple and they were content. They really wanted more children, but it just never happened.  Sylvia never worked and stayed home to look after Jessie. He had a good job that provided enough for them to live a fairly middle-class life. He was a good worker and climbed the rank pretty quickly. He was dedicated to his family and to his job.   

A few years ago, Jessie also got married at the age of twenty-one, and neither of them had any objection.  They both knew that there was nothing they could do to stop her, and they knew better than anyone else that if you find the right person then nothing could keep you apart.  

Peter didn’t feel ungrateful for what they had achieved, but his internal clock was definitely making him attentive to the fact that something was missing. Sylvia always wanted to travel, and perhaps now it was his time to give her that dream. He had quite a lot of heaped up leave so he might be able to take off a few weeks and go on a trip with her.  

He checked his phone again and saw that it was nearly four in the morning. He had no chance of falling asleep now and he had to get up in two hours. He sighed and lay with his eyes closed for a few minutes to try and relax, but eventually just gave up and decided to get up.