Another day passed without him meeting her eyes, not even once. Beth stared at Mark, huddled on the opposite side of the attic, and tried to make her eyes say what her mouth couldn’t. Come on, she thought, willing the words in his direction. Don’t give up, don’t die on me, don’t… Every word was a waste of breath; he wasn’t moving.
Fear took hold in Beth’s heart, tight and unforgiving. Gone was the certainty that Mark was still alive; in its place came a despair so weighted she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even part her lips to let out the choked cry bubbling in her throat. How had they ended up like this, locked in the attic, dying — or already dead? It made no sense, and try as she might Beth couldn’t remember what had happened, her memories muddled like stagnant water.
Just days ago they’d both been happy, healthy, in the first blush of love. Karma had given them the chance to explore things further when Beth had discovered the abandoned attic in her grandparents’ house. Little had she known the door locked from the outside, and they’d been trapped inside with no food nor water, their only supplies a blanket and four as yet unused condoms.
Mark now held the fourth condom — opened and unrolled — in his hand, clenched tightly, as if he had forgotten about it. Never mind that they hadn’t even had sex yet; the sight of the opened, scrunched condom made Beth feel faintly sick, although she was at loss as to why. Only she couldn’t move, couldn’t turn her head away from Mark, slumped in the corner, possibly dead. Possibly, but if only she could check!
Quite slowly, with a calm born of numb disbelief, Beth began to catalogue the ways in which she could’ve murdered Mark. Relatively few ideas sprang to mind, and those that did — strangulation, suffocation, brute force — why, she never would have been able to carry them out!
Suddenly, Mark sat up looking so very alive Beth’s heart ached. Then, pushing himself away from the wall, he lurched forward, began crawling towards her on his hands and knees, an odd keening coming from somewhere deep within his chest. Until that moment, Beth hadn’t even tried to move; now she struggled to raise her arms, to reach out and hug him, but her body refused to respond. Veins in her legs bulged, her body stiff and straining, and yet she could not move an inch, couldn’t even close her eyes. Was she injured or hurt, bones broken, face scarred? X-rays frightened her, but Beth dreaded the answer to one question even more: would Mark still love her, if she were ugly and broken?
Yes had to be the answer: Mark still loved her, otherwise would he be pulling her close, pushing her head so it lay comfortably against his shoulder?
“Zee, I’m so sorry,” Mark said, hiccupping, his finger stroking the line of her neck, and then she remembered: he’d strangled her with a condom.
******
My second ever #fridayflash, which like last week‘s was inspired by the ABC Challenge. This took about an hour to scribble out.
Freaky! It definitely makes one wonder what happens when people are trapped together in dire circumstances.
Belated welcome to the Friday Flash crew!
CD
Thank you! I wasn’t really sure where I was going with this one initially, and it ended up taking a darker turn than I expected!
Nice one Anna! :)
Thanks!
You sound much like me, like I imagine many writers feel – not knowing where you’re going with the story and then BAM, it turns out to be something you never thought it would. That’s a great feeling isn’t it?
Glad to have you aboard with the #fridayflash crew!
I’m actually very much a planner when it comes to longer length work, but with these short stories I’ve been having a bit of fun and have tried just letting the structure of the challenge lead me forward — it’s been quite rewarding!
There I was wondering why they hadn’t made a stronger effort to get out of the attic. Very effective. Now I am wondering if she would have killed Mark, if he hadn’t killed her first. Scary.
Barb Relyea
Ha – I hadn’t thought of her killing him. Interesting possibilities… :-)
Evil little tale – thought they were just dying of lack of water and food or something… but I suppose 4 days wouldn’t do that? Cool twist, didn’t see it coming, horrid way to die – by condom wielding beau. So much for safety.
“So much for safety.” — that really made me laugh!
strangulation by condom, now that was an unforeseen twist! makes me wonder what exactly led up to all that? claustrophobia? performance anxiety? sociopathic tendencies? so many options… heh. welcome to the fridayflash crew!
I think they’d have to be extra strength condoms… or Beth would have to have a really small neck. As to why, who knows? Being trapped can do odd things to people!
Well that is the most bizarro thing I’ve read this weekend. You nailed the ABC thing and it was entertaining.
I hope bizarro is a good thing? :-)
Have to wonder how they got to this point from being locked in… wow.
I wrote the story and I don’t think I want to know how they ended up this way!