Silence. Yet another day of hope, another day to clean the counter-tops, the tables and the windows. Eileen wanted it perfect when Mike returned. She touched her wedding-band and noticed that her fingers had thickened since he proposed to her.
‘Just another week’, he said.
But weeks turned to years, and with bricks of silence she built their house, upon the bones of failed fidelity. Memories can be tricky but in the darkness of the night she recalled why her perfect kitchen lacked a meat-cleaver, and how she learned to mix concrete.
‘Just another week’.
It’s been a while since we had an empty kitchen in Friday Fictioneers, and I always felt that there are bodies behind the floorboards somewhere. Since Rochelle run this as a rerun, I really went back to the type of stories I used to write back then and see what I could do.
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June 10, 2015
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Oh my goodness, this was wickedly good!!
Ha… just having some fun with fiction every now and then.
It was very enjoyable.
Very nice.
Surely not for Mike..
Haha. Deliciously twisted. Spend too much time away from home – and surely there is a reason, and reasons become motives & meatcleavers. Lol.
Ha.. yes there is always some dark layers underneath.
I certainly didn’t see that ending coming! Great job! I love a dark story and you gave me one.
It’s been a long time, but at one point all my stories used to be this kind.
Oh wow, that was brilliant!
Thank you .. 🙂
So even after the “failed fidelity” she decided not to leave him…
I wonder who’s failed fidelity…
Oh, that ending. Ominous. Menacing. Like it!
We all like these kind of stories except Mike.
Poor her. Brilliantly written story. It took me a moment to realize the significance of the missing meat-cleaver.
I feel for the guy with the meat-cleaver in his head.
That is good. Too many ‘just a weeks’. Learn from this, gents.
Never postpone cleaning the toilet.. never.
Oh no…Bjorn is now killing off men as well. We are a dying species.
We are OK as long as we don’t procrastinate
A mystery she is unwilling to solve. Great twist. 🙂
I’m sure she she will never try to solve it.
Nice twist at the end there. It’s always interesting when a victim turns predator.
If she was a victim or not depends who’s fidelity failed.
Nice twist…I’m sure he deserved that 🙂
Hmm — let’s hope so.
And violence devolves into denial and denial into madness. Well told!
Madness of suppression.. we are not judges
Oh my. Never mess with a woman scorned… or so they say. Nicely done!
Nope hell has no meatcleavers like a woman scorned.
Aha! So that’s how it goes! 😉
Ah…sweet memories.
DJ
Sweetness can be pungeant
Lots of cheatin’ scoundrels in this prompt. Cain’t nobody be happy nohow.
.. i think an empty kitchen makes you think about what’s hidden… at least me.
I love how she went so far as to learn to mix concrete! Talk about planning ahead. Yoiks!
Ha.. yes never underestimate the power or knowledge
Whew, this left me breathless…the mention of the meat cleaver & the concrete mixing – ewww!
Like CSI.. wonder if she’l ever get caught.
Me thinks Mike better have good life insurance… The foreboding in this piece is palpable! Excellent writing.
Maybe keeping all his money is better than a life insurance. 🙂
And that’s why I need a financial planner! 😉
Just loved it. Your humour worked perfectly in such a sad situation. Wonderful last sentence.
Ha.. a kind of black humor I think.
oh my! this is a delightful read.
He he..
Yikes! I guess Mike got his! A lot of fun, Bjorn. k.
Mike might have deserved it.. but I didn’t say who failed in fidelity…
Spooky good!
🙂
i guess she wanted him to stay for good and she did it the best way she could. well done.
I guess she succeeded.
Sounds like the marriage didn’t work out like she hoped, but at least she can start a new career in masonry. I suppose she can offer her services to other unhappy spouses—Have Meat Cleaver Will Travel.
Ha.. the expert in spouse’s wet job. More like a hit-woman you mean?
Beautifully Written
wicked though
Dear Björn,
Now that’s one way to keep the man at home. 😉 Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Indeed he will stay where he is.
A twist and he did deserve the punishment. Neat.
Maybe, at least he’s where he is.
AnElephant has a bit of a chortle here.
Dark but funny.
He.. yes I wonder how that can be funny.. hmm
I love the reveal at the end of the second paragraph–very cleverly done!!
Thank you.. I wonder how she can hide it for herself though
Awesome twist! Very entertaining.
Thank you 🙂 glad to entertain.
Dark, and If I’m not mistaken, she found a sure way to keep him faithful. Great twist at the end, Bjorn. Well done. 🙂 — Suzanne
Some men has to be kept faithful only with a meatcleaver…
Very good, I love how she’s managing to hide her dark deed even from herself until the darkest hours of the night.
Maybe she shouldn’t put the lights out 🙂
Ominous and beautifully written.
Thank you 🙂
The kitchen IS a bit dark, I suppose, and matches your story well.
I think to much light would reveal the concrete work..
Bodies underneath the floorboards, but of course. I love the subtle, understated approach. This is wickedly good!
Alas it’s built on skulls and bones.
She obviously got away with it. I like the set up and the reveal at the end. Very clever.
I think a mourning woman is hard not to believe
Loved the wicked ending 🙂
Ha ha.. I wonder how murder can be funny…
Revenge is sweet and wicked, from the point of view of the perpetrator. Having once been in an abusive rel, I did love the ending, good to see that someone else had the guts to do what you could not. I guess you did not expect such a detailed and personal response ….
Is Jimmy Hoffa in there also ??
For those outside the USA, Jim Hoffa was an American labor union leader who disappeared in the mid-1970’s and is believed to have been murdered. Never founded, it is rumored he is buried in a concrete foundation of a sport stadium somewhere.
Ha.. there might be a whole set of bodies lined up below.
has she any option not to think the way she is thinking? perhaps, no
I think her options are to keep a straight face.
Oh how wicked! Guess she has to keep the wedding ring to keep up appearances!
I think it’s her only choice.
Oh well – this is fairly gruesome, and not what I was expecting. I like the silent bricks imagery a lot.
And to think, as I first began reading, I’d thought you and I had headed down the same path this week.
Ellespeth
Those broken promises can be mighty dangerous.
“bones of failed fidelity”
This was dark and intense and the mixing concrete reference was a great way to end it.
Wow Bjorn, Good story and creepy. I still have my meat cleaver and I do know how to lay bricks too. Fun but messy! Really, really good! Nan
Good for Mike that you have your meatcleaver.. 🙂
Bones of failed fidelity – love that line.
Great stuff.
I love that twist at the end. There was me feeling sorry for her, and then rather fearful for Mike. I found myself inwardly shouting, “Stay away, though you’re a swine.” (unintended pun there, what with the meat cleaver!)
WOW! This was such a sentimental piece… Until…. Nice job!
Very creepy. I loved it.
I wasn’t expecting the end… the meat cleaver and mixing cement… shivers! (little details to ‘forget’ haha)