The Mantra

Just be nice, just be nice.

This had become Arthur Wayne’s mantra for the past six months. Every time he entered the shabby four-story apartment building to drop off his daughter Abby, he recited it to himself when he pushed the call button for the elevator. While the elevator descended to the ground floor, Arthur looked down at his daughter with a smile on his face. Abby clutched her new pink Hello Kitty makeup kit with both arms and flashed her father a winning smile.

“Did you have fun today, sweetheart?” asked Arthur.

Abby shook her head up and down like a bobble head doll. “Yes, Daddy! I had a lot of fun!”

“That’s good sweetie.”

Arthur took a deep breath as the doors opened and he and his daughter stepped onto the shiny silver elevator car.

Just be nice, just be nice.

Whenever Arthur stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button for the third floor, the mantra got louder and more in tune with the obnoxious humming of the elevator. Arthur kept all of his negative thoughts to himself so the mask of neutrality and happiness he wore around his daughter didn’t crack. For six months, Arthur’s kept all of his feelings to himself about everything. He hasn’t said one word about his wife, Chandra, walking out on him for another man. He kept it bottled up inside when she took his child away from him. He bit his tongue whenever Chandra told him that she and Abby were moving in with the same man that Arthur found her in their bed with.

Just as Arthur’s fury was starting to sink back into the mantra, Abby’s words finally pierced his trance- like state. “Daddy?!”

“Sorry, sweetheart. What’s up?”
“Can you please stay the night, Daddy?”
“Sweetie, I would love to. But I can’t. I have to go back home and get ready for work.” “When can me and Mommy come home?”
“Soon, baby. Very soon.”
“Mommy says we’re not going back home.”
“She’s only saying that because she’s upset right now. But you’ll be back home soon okay?” Just be nice, just be nice.

As the elevator finally reached the third floor, his anger was at its peak. He and his daughter stepped off the elevator and headed towards apartment 323. He reminded himself over and over again to be civil

with his wife while his daughter was near them. He’d seen his parents fight when he was younger and he’d done everything in his power to make sure Abby never saw that. As he and his daughter got closer to the apartment, the peeled-up, water damaged, faded brown wallpaper in the hallway matched his demeanor. Arthur did his best to cover up his true feelings about this whole situation as he knocked on the door of the apartment. Arthur looked down at his beaming, innocent daughter, almost using her as a source of happiness when his own was drained. But when the door opened and he looked up, his mask finally cracked. It shattered into a million pieces when he saw his wife, the same woman who walked out on him, demanded money for child support and even threatened him with divorce, with tears streaming down her face and a red puffy ring around her right eye. The breath Arthur had held for so long rushed out of his body as his wife stood at the door and reached out for their daughter. Arthur’s eyes darted past her and he saw the man, the same man who was in his bed months ago, standing in the room behind her, the orange glow from his cigarette and the ash cloud around him concealing part of his face. His lips were twisted up into a sick smile, almost like he was proud of all the damage he’s caused. Without thinking, Arthur grabbed Chandra by the arm, pulled her out into the hallway and slammed the door behind him. Arthur locked the door behind him and cracked his knuckles. As Arthur turned around and tightly balled up his fists, the mantra he’d recited for six months changed to just four words.

Let it all go.