The Story Collection: Volume Two

by Matt Shaw

  “Last night was a mistake!” I said. “You said so yourself!”

  “Does this feel like a mistake?” he leant forward and pressed his lips against mine. I refused to part my lips despite feeling his tongue against them. I managed to move my head back, a bit. He, in turn, pulled away ever so slightly - despite keeping my body held close to his. “Why won’t you kiss me?”

  “You always promised you wouldn’t cheat on me,” said Ben. “We always said - we both hated cheating. If either of us felt the need to go down that road...We promised we’d talk to each other first. Try and put things right...Give our relationship a chance it deserved...”

  I did my best to avoid Ben but it was getting harder. His voice was getting louder. Was it? No. No, it wasn’t. My voice. Did I say it out loud? Did I say it in my head? I couldn’t have said it out loud. I couldn’t have. Liam’s looking at me - waiting for an answer. I doubt he’d be staring as intently had I just said it for real.

  “Well?” Liam pressed for an answer.

  “Ben’s home.”

  “What?!”

  He’s left me no choice.

  “That’s why I came to see Kelly earlier.”

  “You’re lying. You came to see Kelly to tell her about last night. I know you did.”

  “No, I didn’t. I swear. Ben’s home. We’re talking.”

  “Then where is he? Well?”

  I didn’t answer. I was hoping he’d have left it at that and gone back to his own house. I was hoping he’d have taken his one chance to get out of what was to follow. What has to follow.

  “You’re fucking lying!” he shouted.

  “No. No, I’m not.”

  “Then where is he?”

  I pointed to the dining room, “He’s waiting for me in there.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “He is. We’re talking things through.”

  “If he were here - he’d have come out by now.”

  “Go and see for yourself. Go on.”

  Liam turned towards the dining room. He didn’t go over, though. He just stood there. His hands still firmly gripping my arms.

  “You take me for a mug?”

  I shook my head, “Of course I don’t.”

  “I do,” said Ben. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You’re a cunt!” Liam’s face changed. His hazel eyes even appeared to change to a colour closer to black. “Take me for a fucking mug.”

  “No I’m not! Ben is in there!”

  “Ben - I called your wife a cunt...You honestly just going to hide in there or are you going to come out and defend her honor?”

  “Fuck that,” said Ben from the dining room, “she is a cunt. Should see what she did to me. Takes a special kind of cunt to do that.”

  I knew I could count on Ben’s support. Liam just stared at me; a smug expression on his face.

  “See,” he said, “if this were the other way round and he was stood here calling my wife a cunt...I’d be out like a shot to bash his brains in. I’d bash them right the fuck in. Bash them in whilst agreeing with him anyway. I mean, Kelly is a cunt but...Well...Only I get to call her that.” He paused for a breath, “So - where is he?” He didn’t let me answer, “You’re a liar.”

  “Have a look if you don’t believe me!”

  “So you can run off again?”

  “I won’t!”

  “You did yesterday!” I felt more pressure from his hands.

  “You’re hurting me! Ben! Please!”

  Liam turned his head back to the dining room, “See - you’re such a liar!”

  “I’m not lying!”

  Keeping hold of me, he span us around so I was closer to the dining room and he had his back to the front door.

  “Go on then - lead the way...” he hissed.

  He released his tight grip and pushed me towards the dining room’s door. I turned and walked in...

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Don’t be too mad with him, Ben, he’s having a rough time with Kelly...”

  “I don’t give a fuck.” Ben didn’t say. I think.

  “Well, where is he?” Liam walked into the room and was greeted with a frying pan to his face and the mad ranting of my husband. The first smack of metal, to his face, split his nose wide open and sent him flying back into the hallway where he fell against the wall. Quick as a flash Ben was on top of him, before Liam had a chance to recover and defend himself, and repeatedly hitting him in the face and across the temple with the pan. The familiar sound of metal to skull brought memories back to how it sounded when I treated Ben to the same medicine.

  With each hit Ben was screaming at Liam. Swearing at him. Cursing him for having the audacity to question his wife’s integrity. Punishing him for daring to call me a...That word. He was so fueled with anger - he continued to rain the blows upon Liam’s skull despite the lack of movement and moaning on Liam’s behalf. By the time Ben finally did finish, I blinked and realised he himself hadn’t moved either. He was still in the dining room. Still on his chair. I, on the other hand, had hold of the pan and was standing above Liam. Sweat dripping from my forehead. Blood from the pan. I’ve done it again. But that’s fine. I didn’t have a choice. I had to do it. Liam was dangerous. Even if he wasn’t - if Kelly didn’t believe he kissed me last night and they didn’t back off...Chances are I was going to have to kill him anyway. Not just him. Her too.

  Speaking of which, I can’t let her live. She’ll start to wonder where her husband is - probably as soon as she gets home from where ever she has gone. I expect she’ll come knocking on my door - see if there’re answers to be had from here. Perhaps she’ll think he has come to check up on me. You know, do the ‘good neighbour’ thing. Or, maybe, she knows what he is like and will come around expecting to find us in bed together.

  I threw the frying pan back into the dining room where it landed with a loud clang. I can’t leave Liam in the hallway. Anyone could see him from the front door. Even the postman when he comes to deliver the post. Definitely can’t leave him here.

  I bent down and took a hold of his ankles before, with all my might, I dragged him through to the dining room. I didn’t worry about taking him all the way to the other side of the room - just enough so I could close the door on what I’d done. Out of sight, out of mind. Temporarily. I’ll deal with Kelly before she has the chance to tell anyone he’s missing or that something could be wrong. And then, I’ll get that pond dug.

  Jesus Christ, forgot about the pond. It’s going to have to be massive. At least that means I can have some larger fish in there. Not just little goldfish. Could get some nice carp. Maybe even buy them with Kelly’s credit card. Don’t know the pin but it shouldn’t be too hard to request a new one from her bank. Sure I can find enough information, going through their stuff, to pass the basic security questions...

  Hmmm...This could end up being the best choice! Not only have I stopped them from snooping around and finding Ben but I might have also cured my money worries. Liam said it himself - he’s got money.

  “It would be my pleasure if you use it for yourself,” he said.

  “Thank you! That’s very generous of you.”

  “And I’m sorry I called you a...Well, you know.”

  “Thank you again! Apology accepted.”

  I started to laugh. Not entirely sure why. I don’t care either. It feels good. I wish the laughter would continue to come.

  I stepped out of the dining room and closed the door. As I walked down the hallway, towards my front door, I hoped Liam left his own door open so I can get in. I’m not sure where Kelly has gone or what time she is due home but I think it would be best if I were in the house waiting for her. That way, I can be sure she isn’t going to tell anyone Liam has wandered off somewhere. The last thing I need are more loose ends and more bodies than strictly necessary. Anymore than three, to bury, and I’ll have to consider a swimming pool instead of a pond.

  Not sure I could afford a pool.

  More’s the pity.<
br />
  Great for the Summer.

  * * * * *

  Kelly and Liam’s front door opened. Good. He didn’t lock it. Even if he had - chances are the keys would have been in one of his pockets. Not that I really felt like going through his pockets. One thing killing him, quite another looting him. What am I talking about? I didn’t kill him. Ben did. To defend my honour. Sure he didn’t say it in so many words but, why else would he have got involved like he did?

  A quick check over my shoulder - no one watching me. Good. I stepped into their house and closed the door behind me.

  “Hello?”

  Liam’s car isn’t in the driveway so I know Kelly isn’t home yet. Even so - better safe than sorry. It’d be pretty awkward if she had parked around the corner and was actually sitting in the front room.

  “Kelly?” I called her name just to be one hundred percent sure.

  No answer. I knew there wouldn’t be.

  It feels strange being in their house knowing she’s out and he’s next door with his brains leaking from his ear-lobes. Stranger yet, knowing Kelly will be joining him in Hell as soon as she walks through the front door. No. Not as soon as she walks through the door. Better to get her back to my house first. Better to get all the bodies together in one place. Easier to deal with them if they’re together. Just means I only have to worry about my house too. It would be a nightmare having to try and keep watch over both of the houses - make sure no one comes over and finds anything incriminating. Definitely better to get her round to my house. Might even be able to get Ben to help me finish the job too - like he helped with Liam. No, he didn’t. Why do I keep thinking that? Allowing myself to think that. He didn’t help. It was me. All me. He’s dead. I killed him. I killed them both.

  “I don’t mind you blaming me if it makes things easier on you?” Ben offered.

  “But then people would think badly of you,” I said. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”

  “It’s fine. I might not have treated you right in the later stages of our relationship but...I can treat you right in my death.”

  “Really? You’d do that for me?”

  I couldn’t see him but I’m sure he’d be nodding right about now. What am I doing? They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Replying must surely be the second. I wonder who ‘they’ are...Maybe talking to yourself is normal. Maybe they’re mad because they don’t talk to themselves. No. Stupid.

  “I did love you,” he said. “Despite how we ended and how we got there...I’ve always loved you.” No. That wasn’t him. He didn’t say that. That was me. Not him. “Come home to me. I miss you.”

  “I can’t. I have to take care of this. You know I do.”

  “Leave her a note.”

  “I killed your husband - please pop round for a cuppa?”

  “A note saying he’s helping you with the pond and that she’s more than welcome to come on by when she gets home,” said Ben.

  I could do that. It would save waiting in the house for her to get home. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain the fact I was in her house whilst her husband was next door. Hadn’t thought that through properly. Would be a little strange. Unless I told her Ben had come home and had gotten physical with me? Liam had heard the commotion and come over to investigate further? Too complicated. Sure there’s a way of making it sound more believable but...

  “A note is so much simpler,” offered Ben.

  I knew it wasn’t Ben’s idea. It was mine. And it was much simpler. A little note - somewhere Kelly wouldn’t fail to spot it telling her Liam is helping with the pond. I’m not sure if that’s something he would have offered - had he been alive to do so but...Even if it’s not something he’d usually volunteer for...Kelly might think he’s doing it just to keep an eye on me. Perhaps he’s worried about me being by myself and that was his way of making sure I didn’t do anything stupid - without actually having to tell me he was keeping a close eye on me. What am I doing? Over-thinking things. It’s not important. I don’t need to know all the little details - I just need the note to get Kelly round to my house. When she’s there, I won’t need to continue the lie. I just need to kill her. Being a woman - I wonder if Ben will kill her quicker and easier than he killed Liam. Kelly’s a lot more dainty than her now-dead husband.

  Not important at the moment and probably best he uses the same force as before. Make sure she isn’t able to get the upper-hand. What’s important - at the moment - is finding a piece of paper and pen so I can write a note.

  I walked through to their lounge. Nothing obvious in here. Their coffee table in the middle of the room with today’s newspaper on it - folded neatly. A remote control, for the television, next to that. The settees - one on the back wall and one on the wall with the window; over-looking the street outside. Television - bigger than what’s needed for the room. Probably only purchased, knowing Kelly, because it’s the next size up from the one Ben and I bought a few months ago. Not a lot of anything else of use. Certainly no pens or scrap bits of paper floating about.

  The next room down the hallway, a similar lay out to my own house next door, was the dining room. Immaculate. Everything in it’s place; fine china in the dresser unit, round table with cushioned chairs. A candle display in the centre of the table. Not much point of looking further into this room for the pen and paper. Going by how clean the room is, I don’t think they even bother coming in here.

  I stepped back into the hallway, closing the dining room door behind me. It wasn’t closed to begin with. Must have been force of habit as to why I shut it this time round. Not important. Adjacent to the dining room was the downstairs toilet. No point looking in there although, if I’m desperate, I guess I could always use toilet paper to write my note on. See what’s in the kitchen first.

  I passed by the bathroom and walked to the end of the kitchen where I pushed the door open. I’ve always been jealous of their kitchen - no sooner had Ben and I mentioned we were looking at re-modelling, they did just that.....

  I screamed so loud I worried I may have woken the dead. A fleeting worry as Kelly didn’t wake up. She just continued to lay in the middle of the kitchen floor - her throat torn open - with a bloodied knife by her side.

  What the hell is this?

  Did he do this?

  Did he kill her?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Yes, he’s here...Just gone inside to get cleaned up.”

  That’s what I thought I’d say to Kelly when she had gotten home, found the note and then found me in my garden - digging my pond. The pond I would have now been digging big enough for all three bodies. But it wasn’t to be. He had killed her. Slit her throat wide open. No chance of surviving that yet I still found myself nudging her body with my left foot as though she were suddenly going to sit up and start laughing at me. A prank.

  “I didn’t do this one,” said Ben. “I don’t mind taking the heat for killing Liam, if it makes things easier for you but...I’m not taking the blame for his crimes too.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to,” I said. “I think someone might have heard my scream.”

  “I doubt it,” he said, “besides, most people are still at work at this time of the day. You’ll be fine.”

  I gave Kelly another nudge with my foot. She definitely isn’t faking it. She definitely isn’t getting any better either. I feel bad for her despite the fact I was going to do the same. Well, nearly the same. I was going to use the pan. Well, I wasn’t. Ben was. He was going to use the pan. The one I killed him with and the one he killed Liam with. I killed Liam with. This is messy.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked myself out loud. I knew it wasn’t Ben asking me. He was dead. Liam was dead. Kelly was dead. It was me talking. Definitely me.

  “I don’t know,” I replied to myself.

  “Might be an idea to get her round to your house. Contain everyone there until you have the pond deep enough to hide them.” I suggested.

  “Someone might see. Sh
ould I wait for darkness?” I asked.

  “Wouldn’t do any harm.”

  I’d wait for darkness to come and then move the body. Hopefully no one would see. Sure, other neighbours from the street might be at work now but...I can’t be sure the postman won’t spot me. Or the milkman. Not that I’ve seen a milkman around here for a long time now. Either way, it would be just my luck to see one now. Or them to see me even. I dropped to my knees, splashing in her pool of blood by accident, and started to cry. Everything starting to sink in.