A Short Story Collection #Wattys2018

Twist Ending I

The writing prompt for this piece was found on Pinterest and stated that the first sentence of the story should be a normal sounding sentence with no negative connotation while that same sentence would be used as the last sentence of the piece with a much darker tone. This is my first time trying this out, so I hope you enjoy.

* * *

The baby cried, and the woman heard a giggle. she walked into her baby's room and saw her young daughter peering over the crib looking at her newborn child. Her baby's hands reached up trying to grab a hold of her daughter's long hair. The women smiled at the scene playing out in front of her happy to finally have the family she always wanted. To bad her husband wasn't here to see this.

"What are you doing?" the woman asked the child walking over to stand next to her.

"I'm playing with Goo-Goo," the child told her mother letting out another tinkling laugh.

"Goo-Goo?" she questioned.

"Well that's all that he says right now," her daughter replied looking up at her mom. "It's going to be his new nickname."

"If you say so, but he's going to grow out of it," the woman said, "Anyway it's time to go to bed now."

"But I don't wanna," the litter girl whined. "I wanna stay up like you."

"You can when you're older, but right now, you need to get your sleep," the mother informed her picking up the child and walking out of the room and to the one next door. "When you wake up in the morning, you can play with your brother."

"Ok momma, good night."

"Good night dear." The woman blew out the candle in her daughter's room and went to bed once her baby was asleep. But what she didn't know was that her husband was there and not asleep like the rest of the house.

* * *

When the woman awoke the next morning, she was in a hospital bed. She had gauze and other wrappings covering her arms and legs and was connected to an oxygen tank.

"What happened last night?" she asked a s a nurse walked into the room to check up on her.

"It's all over the news right now, but your husband has been arrested," the nurse said to her in a soothing voice.

"What for?" the woman cried out.

"Unfortunately for murder miss," the nurse told her looking down at the floor.

"Who did he kill?" she asked.

"You children miss. He tried to kill you too," the nurse mumbled out.

"You're lying to me!" shouted the woman. "This can't possibly be true!"

"I'm afraid it is. Your husband drugged you last night by putting something in your takeout food. He paid off the delivery boy to do it for him. Sometime after it had taken effect, he set your house on fire. Your infant died instantly, but your daughter was alive and died in route to the hospital from smoke inhalation. She had been trying to wake you up and the firemen found you together. It's a miracle that even you survived miss," the nurse explained to her. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

The woman lay in her hospital bed feeling numb. Her perfect family had been shattered by a monster that wore her husband's face. She couldn't possibly believe that he was capable of doing such a thing, yet he did. It didn't make sense to her. She thought they were a happy family that loved each other. How could she not have seen this coming? Was this her fault? Did she make him unhappy?

"Did they find out why he did this?" the woman asked in a faint whisper. The nurse looked at her with sadness written across her face.

"A woman made him do it, a mistress," she uttered. "I didn't want to tell you this, but it appears that he fell in love with another woman and wanted to be with her. Instead of divorcing you, he decided to try and kill you all so that he wouldn't have to pay child support."

"I see," the woman said, "I'd like to be alone now please." The nurse walked out of the room, and as soon as the door closed, the woman began crying. She cried not for her crushed dream but for her children whose lives were cut short. She cried for her daughter who would never get the chance to become a princess. She cried for her son that would never grow up to become some girl's knight in shining armor. And lastly, she cried for herself that will never be whole again.

When she had finished crying, she felt drained emotionally and physically. She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. But as she closed her eyes, the baby cried, and the woman heard a giggle.