Un-Stuck

Coffee. She needed coffee. There was so much to do. Wash sheets. Put away laundry. What was for dinner? Jared said something about salmon. Did they have salmon? Maybe in the freezer. The mirror in the bathroom was dirty. She’ll have to clean that too. The toothpaste was almost empty. Where was Jared’s toothbrush? She’ll add shopping to the list too. Or maybe Jared could stop on his way home. What else could he get? Milk. Eggs. Chocolate chip cookies. A treat for both of them. Or maybe they could go out. She could make a reservation. Kismet was their favourite. It’s where Jared proposed. They we regulars. Call restaurant - added to the list. Daylight illuminated the white cupboards in the kitchen. It was blinding. Something smelled. Rotten. Looked like the fridge door was left open. How many times did she have to warn Jared? The spring was wonky, he knew. Good thing it was almost empty. Nothing rotten here. Add veggies, cold cuts, and fruit to shopping. Maybe the garbage needed taking ...

An overwhelming smell of burning flooded out through the open windows, but from the outside, the house looked fine. There were no signs of flames licking the sides of the wooden frame, or sound of fire eating the floorboards. There was no heat pulsing out through the windows against his face, but he could hear the fire alarm blaring from within. A quick radio message told him that his crew was clear to enter the premises, so long as they were on their guard. It didn’t come in clear if the house was empty or if someone was trapped inside. Swiftly, they made their way in, trying to ignore the assault the alarm and smoke raged on their senses. It smelled like thanksgiving gone wrong. Overcooked and left to dry out before being used as a candle to fragrance the whole place. He motioned for his crew to split. Two to the right, to what looked like the back of the house, toward the hallways leading to the bedrooms. Two to follow him, through the living room toward what smelled like the kitche...

“No! Don’t shoot!” Isaac screamed from behind me. My hand was shaking terribly. I imagine I would have missed anyway with how erratically my wrist was seizing. I screamed in frustration. “Gimme one reason!” My voice was jumping in a wild frenzy. How could he expect me to just drop the gun, get back into the car and ride off into the night? We searched and pled just to find him. And there he was, tied to the overpass on top of the vacant train tracks. We couldn’t have planned it any better. And now Isaac was saying don’t. Don’t kill him. Don’t put a bullet through his worthless head and end it right here right now. “Are you sure?” He asked like he was trying to coax me off the edge of a cliff. If the adrenaline coursing through my veins didn’t have my head all foggy and my muscles spasming, I would have rolled my eyes. All I could see was the man in front of me. His hands all over my body, the sick smell of cheap whiskey and cigarettes covering his tongue. His tongue as he tried to stu...

She was cold. She never got used to dressing for the weather because she never had to when he was around. There was always an extra sweater for her just in case. Eventually she didn't even need to ask. But everything was different now. She bit down on her lip and felt the November wind push through her skirt. She would have to get used to checking the weather before leaving the house. It would take time, but they said she'd learn. The sun was barely showing over the horizon and she wished that she wasn’t so late. She promised him she would be on time for once. The sun would still be out and they would watch it set together with a fleece blanket as a barrier from the frosted ground and a cup of cocoa split between them. But the blanket wasn’t where she swore she saw it and the cupboard was fresh out of cocoa. It was all wrong. The iron gate whined as she pushed through with little effort. The first time she visited, it took her 45 minutes to even touch it but in following months...