Awakened For Sin

Monday 5pm

I should have known the quiet was just too quiet. That stillness before something bad always carries its own stench, one your body can’t help but recognize even if your brain refuses to admit it. You know the feeling… the one like how animals go quiet just before they scurry away as a disaster hits. How their survival instinct kicks in to save the furry little buggers.

I’m feeling that right now, but instead of it sending me into a dark corner to hide until the feeling goes away, I settle back in the bath I’d run, letting the hot water lap around me, seeping into my pores and temporarily washing away my worries. And trust me, I have a few.

This was my one true vice. I loved a hot bath as often as possible. I’d added lavender oil to help with the headache that had been threatening all day. But nothing helped the sense of dread that had been creeping up my spine since arriving home.

My husband, Richard, had been unusually polite this afternoon; he was never polite anymore. And Gemma… Gemma hovered just outside my bedroom like a cat circling a mouse. She grinned, sharp teeth glinting, like she’d been waiting her whole life for me to enter my room.

How had I become this pathetic, weak creature that let my husband move his mistress into the master bedroom and me into the guest quarters? And treat me like shit. If we didn’t have staff, I’m sure they would have had me serving them like a housekeeper. I tried to keep out of their way as much as possible.

I closed my eyes, pretending not to notice how uneasy I was feeling. In that moment, I made two huge mistakes: one was arguing with the feeling of unease, and two was closing my eyes. I had just signed my own death warrant.

The first sign that I wasn’t alone anymore was the sound of movement at my back. The presence was dark, cold, and uncaring, and it jolted me upright. My eyes shot open and I snapped my head around to find Richard there, sleeves rolled, his tie gone. What worried me most was the sickly smile plastered on his face.

Gemma leaned over the edge of the tub on my left, her hands grabbing my arms and pinning them together with a force that surprised me. She was willowy thin but tall.

“Fawn, honey… relax. You’ve had such a stressful day,” Richard cooed, but his voice was laced with danger.

It was then I knew I was going to die.

He placed his hands on my shoulders before pushing me down, shoving my head under the water. I had no time to collect lifesaving air into my lungs.

So this was what my marriage had come to.

We had no prenup, and Richard wouldn’t divorce me because he was worried I would take half of everything he owned. I could see that murdering