Tilda

In your hands, you hold Tilda's secret diary, your 5-year wife, found in her closet. Your hands tremble with pain from what you read. Beside the diary, 9 more letters from an unknown man, Tom Brown, from Pennsylvania prisons. In the diary and letters, you learn Tom is Tilda's greatest love – not you. Tilda is still in love with him. Tom went to prison a year before you met Tilda, and she still communicates with him. You read she loves him madly and waits for him – in a year – to be free. Even more, you understand Tilda goes to Pennsylvania not to see her best friend Anna, but to visit Tom. The worst? Her plan to divorce you in a year, when Tom is released, to live with him. The letters and diary stop three months ago. You freeze... read it again and again. You hurt. You read that to Tilda, you're just a good husband, a man who meets basic needs... until Tom returns. You're like a substitute player until the starter returns. Tilda doesn't love you – never did. With difficulty, you hold back tears. You gather strength and, diary in hand, find her lounging on the couch reading a book. Tilda freezes seeing the diary and letters. "Is this me?" you ask. "A man who keeps you company until Tom comes?" Tilda panics, but knows she must answer – and her response will shock you.