Unemployment Bites

Unemployment Bites
By Stephen A Abell

Number of Words: 300


His feet met the cold floor as he angrily slapped the alarm clock into silence. Throwing on a robe he padded to the bathroom to carry out his ablutions.

“What you doin’?”

“Gettin’ ready.”

“What for?” Her voice drifting back towards sleep. “You’re not working today.”

He didn’t need to be reminded; he’d been there when the company liquidated.

Finishing in the bathroom, he descended to the kitchen and started to brew some tea. Within a half hour, he carried a tray filled with two bowls of cereal, orange juice and mugs of steaming tea back upstairs.

“Wakey, wakey.” He cooed, setting the tray down on the bedside table.

Sitting up groggily she gave him a look of love, sweet and sincere.

“It’s all part of my plan. I don’t want to get lazy… or used to getting up late. It’ll be harder to acclimatise to early starts when I get back to work. Besides, wouldn’t you love breakfast in bed every morning?”

“It is a great way to wake up.” She leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. “Thank you.”

They chatted about his coming day and his ambitions for returning to work. As the discussion turned towards her forthcoming day, the powdered sleeping pills he’d added to her breakfast and beverages began to work. Before she finished her tea she slipped into a deep drug induced sleep.

It was all so easy, he thought; undress her; fold her nightie; place her in the bath and run warm water; type a suicide note on her laptop, wear gloves to leave only her fingerprints on the keys; Slash her wrists using the razor blade and place in the warm water: Simples.

He’d find her later, after a hard day’s job hunting. The insurance would take care of things from then on.


For the contest "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  and the prompt "It's all part of my plan" - 3rd August 2010