Headlights flashed in the driveway at quarter to one. I opened the door to greet my wife with a mask of a smile. Waving to the driver, Mr. Tursi, I opened the passenger door to be slapped in the face with the smell of bourbon. “Hunt!” Kristen cried as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“She uh, left her car at The Fox and the Hound.” A deep baritone voice boomed from the driver’s side.

“Thank you for taking her home, Ron.”

Ronald Tursi seemed thrown off by my knowledge of his name. He had held a hand out to shake, but didn’t say a word. I ignored his gesture, and kissed my wife.

“So I have a surprise,” Kristen giggled.

“What’s that?”

“My sister is coming over tomorrow!”

“Oh well, I’ll have to clean up the guest room, then.” I helped Kristen get out of the car.

“She uh,” Ronald Tursi snorted. “She found a payphone at the bar, and I’m quite impressed at the number of phone numbers she had memorized.”

I watched my wife as she smiled at the man in the sleazy three-piece suit, and brushed past me to go inside.

“Ah, as long as it was impressive,” I said to my wife’s boss.

And lover…

“Tell you what, Ron. How about you stay the night? It’s not safe to drive on the roads this late.”

“Yeah, my brother is a Sergeant in Schenectady. I’ll be just fine.”

“You can still crash. Your brother’s name wouldn’t help you there.” I whispered.

He thought for a moment, then threw the car into park. “You know, you’re right. Thanks for the concern, Hunter.”

Together, we walked inside without saying a word. Kristen was in the kitchen sipping on a bottle of water. “Oh…” she coughed.

“Ron is going to stay the night.”

“That’s great--”

“And I can drive you to get your car in the morning.” Tall and dark with broad shoulders, Ronald stuck his chest out proudly, as if he had come up with the idea on his own.

Kristen nodded. “Sure…”

“Kris, I’m going to show your boss the boat!” I didn’t wait for my wife to respond. “Hey, pass us a few cold ones. You up for a night cap?”

“You know it,” my wife’s boss answered, taking a bottle of beer from her.

Walking out into the darkness, I beckoned Ron to pass in front of me. “After you, good sir.” Of course, the asshole didn’t object. When we passed the shed, I stopped. “Oh, keep going, I’ll be right there.” I bent down to fiddle with my shoelaces. Slowly, I reached for the shotgun. Grabbing it by the barrel, I stood up and aimed. Trust me, I know it’s cowardly to shoot a man in the back, but so is stealing a man’s wife.

“It’ll be too loud”

“It doesn’t matter, no one will hear.”

“Kristen won’t hear a gunshot?”

“What was that?” A voice came from the bottom of the hill.

“N-nothing.” I tossed the shotgun down to the ground and saw a stone. The same stone that I lifted to find the key to the shed.

“Boy, this is paradise,” Ronald Tursi said as he took a sip of beer. As the rowboat began to rock back and forth, he stretched his arms up in the air and placed them behind his head. “Quite the life you got here, Hunt.”

“I’m sure you’ve got it good, too,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, but nothing beats this. Tiny house on the lake and a lovely wife is the recipe for happiness.”

I furrowed my brow “Are you married?”

“Divorced.” He took another sip of beer and fixed his sight upon the moon.

I fiddled with the stone in my pocket and found a pointed end. Pressing my pointer finger into it, I felt a slight sting of pain.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Come again?” When Ronald Tursi sat up, I smashed him in the face with the rock, shattering his mouth into a cave of bloody splinters. For a moment, he tried to lift his hands to fight back, but I swung once again, this time landing my blow in his temple. He fell onto his back, and I leaped on top of him. I punched and stabbed, and punched, and stabbed, and punched and stabbed until there was nothing left of the man’s head, except bits of skull, brains, soaked in a pool of blood.

I had no idea what to do with the body.

“Should I bury him?”

“A burial would be the more...respectful way to dispose of him. You don’t want that.”

I nodded. Still leaking from the bloody ruin of his face, I tossed the man’s lifeless body into my shed, locked it up, and threw the key into the lake. The trail blood glittered in the silvery moonlight, making everything seem magical. Everything just felt so right.

Painted in blood, I crept up the stairs to my bedroom. Kristen was asleep and was wearing the most beautiful smile.

“That’s a smile that knows a secret.”

“I know.”

I grabbed my pillow and pressed it over her face. This time I was in control of her life. If I wanted to, I could have lifted the pillow, and allowed her to taste the sweet nectar of air. But, we all know that wasn’t happening.

A knock on the front door woke me. I looked to my right to see Kristen. Her skin was the color of milk, her mouth and eyes open like she had been petrified. I rose and stumbled into the bathroom to splash water on my face. The man in the mirror seemed to glow. This was what a proud man looked like. This was what a successful man looked like. Was I afraid of who was at the door? Was I scared of getting caught? Absolutely not.

“Jesus!” Kristen’s sister, Wendy, cried when I opened the door.

“Oh hey, Wen! Come on in!” The sky behind her was just beginning to transform into a swirl of yellow, orange, and red.

Wendy stood frozen on the threshold. “What are you...Is that blood?”

I looked down and noticed that my body was covered in crusty brown patches of victim number one’s blood. There were probably some brains mixed in there too.

“Ha! Yep,” I answered. “Went hunting! Let’s just say I shouldn’t quit my day job and become a butcher.

“I’ll say. Try a supermarket next time, Rambo.” Wendy smirked. “Here,” she handed me a stack of mail that had been ignored for well over a month.

“Kristen here? I didn’t see her car.”

“Er no--she’ll be back soon. Come on in, let me get you a drink.”

Wendy slipped past me and into the kitchen. I thumbed through credit card offers and fast food menus until I came upon an envelope that was addressed to Kristen Benson from Ronald Tursi. Ripping it open, two tickets fell onto the floor. I tore the rest of the envelope apart and found a note.

Kristen,

I wanted to give you and your husband a gift to show my appreciation. You always talk about how life was in the big city. So, I figured you two could take a few days soaking in the lights of the city that never sleeps. Enclosed are two tickets to “The Lion King.” Please enjoy, and make sure to come to me for a credit card. I do not want you or Hunter spending a dime in the big apple.

My chest tightened as I picked up the two broadway tickets. See, here is where I should have realized the monster I had become. It would have been appropriate for me to drop to my knees and sob at the mistake I made. Who knows, maybe even go outside and wrap my lips around the barrel of daddy’s shotgun.

“Hey Wen?” I said, stepping into the kitchen.

Wendy took a swig of beer. “Hey Hunt?”

“Let’s go out back, the sun is about to set.”