Restoration (2006)
Dick's wife was institutionalized, leaving him with money to fulfill the dream of restoring an old house. He isn't the only one who wants something restored... Contains blood and violence. 1,700 words (originally written in 2006)
Restoration
Ah, free at last. Little Nel was Daddy’s Little Girl, but she was quite a handful. Dick was relieved; now that Nel was at Day Care, he had some free time. Time to be spent with the guys. But first he had to stop at his mother’s house to see how far the restoration team had gotten yesterday.
Dick’s mother loved old houses, and her dream to have one of her own had finally come true when Dick’s wife, Sarah, had been institutionalized. He had put a huge chunk of the insurance money towards the purchase and restoration of the huge house, and now they needed only to wait for them to finish fixing the house. Afterwards, they would all move in as a big, happy family: Dick, his mom, and Little Nel.
Dick drove his sedan up the long, tree-lined driveway. Crisp leaves danced along the pavement, pushed along by an autumn breeze. Dick watched them for a moment before getting out of his car. This time three years ago, his life had been a wreck. Sarah had been the cause of all that.
Sarah had insisted that Dick was seeing someone else. At work, she had concluded. So had commenced the abuse. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and of course verbal and emotional abuse. When that hadn’t satisfied her, she threatened to harm their daughter. Once she had started that, it was only logical to see someone else. If Sarah wouldn’t believe him that he saw only her, then he might as well see someone else, to live up to her suspicions.
So Dick had found comfort in the arms of a gentle, younger man. After Sarah’s abuse, he couldn’t bear to be with another woman. Sarah was so normal around everyone else; if she was this bad behind closed doors, who knew what other women were capable of?
It didn’t take too long for Sarah to figure out that Dick was seeing another man. That was when Dick came home to find her slitting her wrists. “It’s your fault I’m dieing!” she had screamed. “You should die with me!”
Dick had called 911, and after much red tape, Sarah was taken into St. Brian’s Hospital for the Mentally Unstable.
Dick sighed as he opened the door to the grand house. Life was much better without Sarah. Dick lived the life of a single father. He didn’t bother trying to get into a new relationship. Dick got a decent insurance check every month because of his wife, and that money was put towards the house or bills. He and Little Nel had their apartment to themselves, and as soon as the house had been restored, costs would be split between him and his mom. It would all work itself out soon.
As Dick made his way to the kitchen, the back of his throat tingled, but he ignored it. Sitting on the stove was Dick’s mother’s teapot, and on the counter nearby, two cups and a box of teabags. Dick filled the teapot and set it to boiling. The kitchen had been the first room finished in the house. Dick walked into the living room and clicked on the TV. This had been the second room to be finished. That made two rooms finished on the first floor, and two upstairs. Dick flipped to a news station and turned the volume up so that he could hear it as he checked out the other rooms in the house.
He made his way up the staircase, avoiding the plastic draped along the side. The door to the attic hung open, but Dick passed it; the attic had been finished yesterday morning, so there was no need to look up there. He passed the bathroom without a thought; that, too, was good. He stepped into the second bedroom when he got to it. The team had done a lot of work in here. Yesterday morning, the room had only been insulation on the walls. Since then, drywall had been hung and textured, and crown moldings and mopboards were in place.
Dick nodded to himself; they would have this house done in no time at all. He jumped as he heard the teapot whistle, and headed back down the hall.
As Dick descended the first step, something slammed into the center of his back, sending him flying down the stairs. His head hit the railing with a loud thud, and though Dick tried to regain control of his limbs, the momentum of the fall prevented him, so that by the time he had reached the bottom of the stairs, he had heard several significant cracking noises, and he could barely move.
“Oh, Honey, you know I don’t like tea,” came Sarah’s voice as she descended the stairs. Dick stared at her. Her curly blonde hair hung loosely about her shoulders, and she had on her favorite dress-a short, close-fitting white thing with blue trim. So that had been the tickle in his throat; Sarah’s perfume had always had that effect on him.
Dick groaned as Sarah stepped on his chest as she walked into the living room. A moment later she came back and kneeled next to Dick. “Guess what, dear? I’m on the news.” She smiled at him. “Listen.”
Dick turned his aching head towards the TV, where a woman was reporting. “...repeat, we have just been informed of an escape of three patients from St. Brian’s Hospital for the Mentally Unstable. Two guards were found dead from multiple fatal lacerations. Although two of the patients have been taken into custody, the whereabouts of one woman remains unknown. If you come in contact with this woman, please be cautious. She is unpredictable and capable of great violence. Call the police immediately if you...” Dick tuned out the rest of the report; he already knew enough of what they had said.
“See, love? I told you I’d have my fifteen minutes of fame someday.” Sarah trailed a long nail along Dick’s cheek. When Dick turned his head away from her, she slapped him. “I know about your little affair with Eric, Richard. You don’t have to pretend to love me anymore.”
“Screw you, Sarah! The only reason I cheated on you was because you wouldn’t believe the truth before,” Dick spat.
“It’s okay, Richard,” Sarah cooed. “I found a way to stop you from cheating.” She smiled warmly at him. “I’ll be right back, so don’t move!” She giggled as she stood up and disappeared into the kitchen.
Dick took stock of his circumstances: his head ached like he’d never felt before, and he couldn’t feel his legs at all. His arms didn’t seem too bad, though his right shoulder was sore. Considering he had fallen down such a narrow, steep, and severe staircase, it didn’t seem too bad. Considering that Sarah had him helpless, however, sent him reeling in fear.
Dick watched as Sarah stepped back into the hall and knelt down beside him again-this time with a large kitchen knife. Dick opened his mouth to speak, but let out a scream instead as she drew the knife across his gut. He stared at his stomach in horror as Sarah dipped her fingers in the blood gushing out of his body.
Sarah stared at the red glistening on her fingers in wonder, and then glanced at Dick’s face. “Look. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve given me!” She dipped her fingers into the wound again and held them dripping in front of Dick’s face.
Dick’s throat closed in disgust as she stroked his lips with the bloody fingers, and he swallowed the gagging that was threatening to take hold.
Sarah’s eyes lit up suddenly. “I remember our first date together. You said we’d paint the town red. Well, since this will be our last date together...” she trailed off and eagerly made another cut in Dick’s stomach. Dick tried to remember how to move as Sarah covered both of her hands with his blood, but for the moment, his memory was failing him.
Sarah stood up and walked to the wall, where she wrote “Richard & Sarah” in a big, red, bloody heart. When she had finished, she stood back to look at her work. “Not dark enough,” she murmured finally, and made Dick grunt in pain as she made yet another, deeper cut in his stomach. Dick wondered, as Sarah put the new layer of blood on the wall, how he was still conscious. His breath was coming more and more labored, and he was feeling lightheaded.
Sarah knelt next to him yet again. “What do you think, Richard? The blood of our love scrawled across the walls in such a clear, romantic message...absolutely lovely?” Dick saw her image blur as she tucked her flowing blonde curls behind her ears with her bloody hands. Then she stroked his hair as his vision began to darken. “I love you, Richard,” Sarah said softly. Dick sighed as he fell into the world of unconsciousness.
Sarah took up her knife again and trailed it over Dick’s face, leaving shallow, patterned cuts. She leaned down and kissed bloody lips and then trailed the knife to his chest. “Love,” she smiled, “comes from right here. Your heart.” Dick’s unconscious body shuddered as she drove the knife carefully, oh so carefully, into his chest. She cut down to the wounds in his belly, and then started pulling at the skin, tugging at the edge of the wounds and pushing her hands toward the heart.
She cut away more skin, pushing it aside, trying with all her might to touch the heart without destroying it. She pushed past the stomach and the lungs until finally, finally, she felt the strong, hot muscle within Dick’s chest, still as the house around them. She stroked it with one hand and withdrew the other to wipe the tears streaming down her face.
“Now, Richard, now do you see?” she whispered. She kissed his dead lips. “Your heart is where it belongs: in my hands. So fragile, but it’s still whole.” She reached out her free hand and intertwined it with one of Dick’s. And she lay like that, smiling, crying with joy, draped across Dick’s bleeding body, her lips on his cheek and her eyes on the wall. “Richard & Sarah” in the heart, and the heart she held between them. She couldn’t wait to see Nel’s face when she saw her mommy and daddy together again, and closer than ever before.
Restoration
Ah, free at last. Little Nel was Daddy’s Little Girl, but she was quite a handful. Dick was relieved; now that Nel was at Day Care, he had some free time. Time to be spent with the guys. But first he had to stop at his mother’s house to see how far the restoration team had gotten yesterday.
Dick’s mother loved old houses, and her dream to have one of her own had finally come true when Dick’s wife, Sarah, had been institutionalized. He had put a huge chunk of the insurance money towards the purchase and restoration of the huge house, and now they needed only to wait for them to finish fixing the house. Afterwards, they would all move in as a big, happy family: Dick, his mom, and Little Nel.
Dick drove his sedan up the long, tree-lined driveway. Crisp leaves danced along the pavement, pushed along by an autumn breeze. Dick watched them for a moment before getting out of his car. This time three years ago, his life had been a wreck. Sarah had been the cause of all that.
Sarah had insisted that Dick was seeing someone else. At work, she had concluded. So had commenced the abuse. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and of course verbal and emotional abuse. When that hadn’t satisfied her, she threatened to harm their daughter. Once she had started that, it was only logical to see someone else. If Sarah wouldn’t believe him that he saw only her, then he might as well see someone else, to live up to her suspicions.
So Dick had found comfort in the arms of a gentle, younger man. After Sarah’s abuse, he couldn’t bear to be with another woman. Sarah was so normal around everyone else; if she was this bad behind closed doors, who knew what other women were capable of?
It didn’t take too long for Sarah to figure out that Dick was seeing another man. That was when Dick came home to find her slitting her wrists. “It’s your fault I’m dieing!” she had screamed. “You should die with me!”
Dick had called 911, and after much red tape, Sarah was taken into St. Brian’s Hospital for the Mentally Unstable.
Dick sighed as he opened the door to the grand house. Life was much better without Sarah. Dick lived the life of a single father. He didn’t bother trying to get into a new relationship. Dick got a decent insurance check every month because of his wife, and that money was put towards the house or bills. He and Little Nel had their apartment to themselves, and as soon as the house had been restored, costs would be split between him and his mom. It would all work itself out soon.
As Dick made his way to the kitchen, the back of his throat tingled, but he ignored it. Sitting on the stove was Dick’s mother’s teapot, and on the counter nearby, two cups and a box of teabags. Dick filled the teapot and set it to boiling. The kitchen had been the first room finished in the house. Dick walked into the living room and clicked on the TV. This had been the second room to be finished. That made two rooms finished on the first floor, and two upstairs. Dick flipped to a news station and turned the volume up so that he could hear it as he checked out the other rooms in the house.
He made his way up the staircase, avoiding the plastic draped along the side. The door to the attic hung open, but Dick passed it; the attic had been finished yesterday morning, so there was no need to look up there. He passed the bathroom without a thought; that, too, was good. He stepped into the second bedroom when he got to it. The team had done a lot of work in here. Yesterday morning, the room had only been insulation on the walls. Since then, drywall had been hung and textured, and crown moldings and mopboards were in place.
Dick nodded to himself; they would have this house done in no time at all. He jumped as he heard the teapot whistle, and headed back down the hall.
As Dick descended the first step, something slammed into the center of his back, sending him flying down the stairs. His head hit the railing with a loud thud, and though Dick tried to regain control of his limbs, the momentum of the fall prevented him, so that by the time he had reached the bottom of the stairs, he had heard several significant cracking noises, and he could barely move.
“Oh, Honey, you know I don’t like tea,” came Sarah’s voice as she descended the stairs. Dick stared at her. Her curly blonde hair hung loosely about her shoulders, and she had on her favorite dress-a short, close-fitting white thing with blue trim. So that had been the tickle in his throat; Sarah’s perfume had always had that effect on him.
Dick groaned as Sarah stepped on his chest as she walked into the living room. A moment later she came back and kneeled next to Dick. “Guess what, dear? I’m on the news.” She smiled at him. “Listen.”
Dick turned his aching head towards the TV, where a woman was reporting. “...repeat, we have just been informed of an escape of three patients from St. Brian’s Hospital for the Mentally Unstable. Two guards were found dead from multiple fatal lacerations. Although two of the patients have been taken into custody, the whereabouts of one woman remains unknown. If you come in contact with this woman, please be cautious. She is unpredictable and capable of great violence. Call the police immediately if you...” Dick tuned out the rest of the report; he already knew enough of what they had said.
“See, love? I told you I’d have my fifteen minutes of fame someday.” Sarah trailed a long nail along Dick’s cheek. When Dick turned his head away from her, she slapped him. “I know about your little affair with Eric, Richard. You don’t have to pretend to love me anymore.”
“Screw you, Sarah! The only reason I cheated on you was because you wouldn’t believe the truth before,” Dick spat.
“It’s okay, Richard,” Sarah cooed. “I found a way to stop you from cheating.” She smiled warmly at him. “I’ll be right back, so don’t move!” She giggled as she stood up and disappeared into the kitchen.
Dick took stock of his circumstances: his head ached like he’d never felt before, and he couldn’t feel his legs at all. His arms didn’t seem too bad, though his right shoulder was sore. Considering he had fallen down such a narrow, steep, and severe staircase, it didn’t seem too bad. Considering that Sarah had him helpless, however, sent him reeling in fear.
Dick watched as Sarah stepped back into the hall and knelt down beside him again-this time with a large kitchen knife. Dick opened his mouth to speak, but let out a scream instead as she drew the knife across his gut. He stared at his stomach in horror as Sarah dipped her fingers in the blood gushing out of his body.
Sarah stared at the red glistening on her fingers in wonder, and then glanced at Dick’s face. “Look. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve given me!” She dipped her fingers into the wound again and held them dripping in front of Dick’s face.
Dick’s throat closed in disgust as she stroked his lips with the bloody fingers, and he swallowed the gagging that was threatening to take hold.
Sarah’s eyes lit up suddenly. “I remember our first date together. You said we’d paint the town red. Well, since this will be our last date together...” she trailed off and eagerly made another cut in Dick’s stomach. Dick tried to remember how to move as Sarah covered both of her hands with his blood, but for the moment, his memory was failing him.
Sarah stood up and walked to the wall, where she wrote “Richard & Sarah” in a big, red, bloody heart. When she had finished, she stood back to look at her work. “Not dark enough,” she murmured finally, and made Dick grunt in pain as she made yet another, deeper cut in his stomach. Dick wondered, as Sarah put the new layer of blood on the wall, how he was still conscious. His breath was coming more and more labored, and he was feeling lightheaded.
Sarah knelt next to him yet again. “What do you think, Richard? The blood of our love scrawled across the walls in such a clear, romantic message...absolutely lovely?” Dick saw her image blur as she tucked her flowing blonde curls behind her ears with her bloody hands. Then she stroked his hair as his vision began to darken. “I love you, Richard,” Sarah said softly. Dick sighed as he fell into the world of unconsciousness.
Sarah took up her knife again and trailed it over Dick’s face, leaving shallow, patterned cuts. She leaned down and kissed bloody lips and then trailed the knife to his chest. “Love,” she smiled, “comes from right here. Your heart.” Dick’s unconscious body shuddered as she drove the knife carefully, oh so carefully, into his chest. She cut down to the wounds in his belly, and then started pulling at the skin, tugging at the edge of the wounds and pushing her hands toward the heart.
She cut away more skin, pushing it aside, trying with all her might to touch the heart without destroying it. She pushed past the stomach and the lungs until finally, finally, she felt the strong, hot muscle within Dick’s chest, still as the house around them. She stroked it with one hand and withdrew the other to wipe the tears streaming down her face.
“Now, Richard, now do you see?” she whispered. She kissed his dead lips. “Your heart is where it belongs: in my hands. So fragile, but it’s still whole.” She reached out her free hand and intertwined it with one of Dick’s. And she lay like that, smiling, crying with joy, draped across Dick’s bleeding body, her lips on his cheek and her eyes on the wall. “Richard & Sarah” in the heart, and the heart she held between them. She couldn’t wait to see Nel’s face when she saw her mommy and daddy together again, and closer than ever before.