Melinda had been removing the dirty laundry from her bedroom hamper early in the afternoon when the glittering object fell from the folds of Rodney’s work shirt. It was a broken fingernail. A very expensive one with an ungodly length of two inches and decorated with tiny specks of cubic zirconia. She had simply placed the fingernail in her pocket and finished the laundry.
Melinda knew that Rodney screwed around on her. She wasn’t able to take care of his needs as often as he wanted her, and so an unspoken agreement had risen between them; as long as she never discovered evidence of his affairs, and he always returned home to her, she would never speak of it. Five years the arrangement had worked and both she and Rodney were content in their marriage. Rodney’s affection for Melinda was never questioned or in doubt.
The candles in the bedroom had been burning for awhile and Melinda’s thoughts drifted over the fact that she’d need to douse the flames, soon. She smiled briefly. They were beautiful, despite the ugliness that lay in vicious ribbons upon the bed. As Melinda cast her eyes over the horrified look upon Rodney’s face, she felt her heart begin to crack. Quickly she closed her eyes against the torn flesh and the blood. She slowly turned her body in the wrought-iron chair of her vanity. When Melinda opened her eyes to stare into the mirror, a coldness has clouded her expression. She studied her face and reached for the hairbrush. As she drew it slowly, luxuriously through her hair, the long fingernails that she’d had made at the Beverly Hills Salon two weeks ago glittered like blood in the candlelight.
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Copyright © 1991-2006 Jayne d’Arcy. All rights reserved. Reprints only by permission from Jayne d’Arcy.
The Affair by Jayne d’Arcy an entry in the Tastes of the Darkness carnival #2
It is precisely the type of story one has to read carefully in order to answer all the questions you asked. The clues are there. And nope, I won’t explain it here because I’m just evil that way.
This is the type of story English professors love to make students read and analyze. I would say that their is not enough information available to determine why she killed her husband. I would also suggest that she did not kill him because she learned of an affair, either: “Rodney’s affection for Melinda was never questioned or in doubt.”
There are too many variables, hinted at by your story telling technique. Writing like yours is the stuff that ends up famous after the author dies, lmao- plaguing students for centuries.
bwa hahaha!