Chapter 2 contrasts two households: Anneke and David’s warm, playful marriage, and Sam and Mitchell’s strained relationship. Through a phone call, Anneke learns of Sam’s supposed fertility struggles. Later, Mitchell reveals the truth—Sam’s asexuality has kept their marriage sexless for years. The lie about Mitchell’s infertility unravels, exposing deeper dysfunction.
The chapter masterfully uses dialogue to uncover layers of deceit, repression, and contrast between couples. Anneke, a long-time friend of Sam, calls to arrange dinner, only to be met with avoidance. Sam hides behind excuses of work, professional promotion, and fertility struggles, citing Mitchell’s “low motility” as the reason they remain childless. Her insistence on busyness and dismissive laughter underscores an avoidance strategy that feels increasingly brittle.
Anneke’s household, in contrast, exudes vitality. Her banter and intimacy with David—marked by laughter, affection, and sexual playfulness—emphasise what Sam and Mitchell lack. This juxtaposition is deliberate: one couple thrives in transparency and sensuality, the other suffocates under silence, excuses, and avoidance.
The narrative shift to Mitchell’s perspective at sea brings revelation. When Anneke calls him directly, expecting to confirm Sam’s story, Mitchell dismantles the illusion. He has never had fertility issues. The real problem is Sam’s aversion to sex itself—framed by Mitchell as asexuality, cloaked in religious rationalisation, and sustained by years of celibacy. His blunt declaration, “She doesn’t do sex,” reframes everything Anneke thought she knew about her friend.
Thematically, the chapter explores the destructive power of unspoken truths. Sam’s deception reshapes how others perceive Mitchell, masking her own disconnection from intimacy. The secrecy corrodes friendships, isolates the couple, and highlights how shame around sexuality can fracture even close bonds. Meanwhile, Mitchell’s resignation, embodied in his retreat to sailing, emphasises escapism as survival.
This chapter cements a central tension: the corrosive impact of silence and lies within marriage, set against the vitality of openness and desire in others.
–Michael (Dark fiction. Author of SEETHINGS (the first book), free for a limited time)
Love, lust, and lies collide on land and water. A temptress, a faithful wife, and a photographer haunted by shadows drift into a world of seduction, betrayal, and control.
Marriages unravel, secrets surface, and civility dissolves into primal instinct. Nothing is safe. No one is innocent.
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SEETHINGS (first in the series) is downloadable and free for a limited time, here.
Discover more from Michael Forman – Author of Dark Fiction & Drama
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