Her Biggest Mistake

The idea was to leave no marks at all. To clean up after myself. And I could have done just that too. Yet, here she was. Hunched over like a slowly deflating inflatable statue. The kind kids punch and kick around. The kind that always bounce back.

Well, let me tell you- there was no coming back for her.

Carrie O’Shea was no more. Her legs parted, exposing her own unknown secrets to society- as if anyone dared to look now. She was dead for heaven’s sake. Still… it was an interesting prospect. Especially when that little cross dangled off her neck like a fish hook. Where was your decency, Carrie? This was a family restaurant…

And yet, even in death, Carrie had the ability to look so innocent and, well, beautiful. Damn her. Damn those long locks of blonde hair, carefully pinned and tucked. Damn that pencil figure, those long, slender legs. And those lips… they left her traces everywhere. It’s how I knew it was her in the first place.

”What the hell is on your collar?!” I screamed at him. The bastard. He had the gall to pull a stunt like this? A week before Maddie’s third birthday?

I looked at the red lip marks on his shirt. They laughed in my face.

I didn’t even wait for a reply. My hand stung his face like venom. It was cherry red within a second. And within that second I was out the door.

Carrie O’Shea had left her mark on my husband, and be damned if I didn’t leave my mark on Carrie O’Shea.

I planted everything just right. I took a job at the burger bar down the road. First, I made sure she went there, and went frequently. Make sure she trusted the place. Trust would make her vulnerable. I needed her to feel safe. Safety was an illusion.

Just one bottle of poison did the job. She was dead before her second bite. Rest in peace, Carrie O’Shea. The whore.

I lingered in the back as they came for her. I had to see her last mark. Her last luscious signature on society. I had to make sure it looked just like my husband’s collar. Just so the world saw Carrie’s biggest mistake.

And there it was.

A plump, bright red stain on the edge of a burger, carelessly left on the floor.