Sunday Morning

Jared slouched against the wall as he lit another cigarette. He kept his eyes focused on the end as the screaming from across the living room continued, unabated, and breathed in deeply; the thick smoke filled his lungs, giving him momentary bliss before he released it again. Feeling a bit more composed, he finally lifted his eyes and stood, the cigarette balanced in the corner of his mouth.

“Tina.” His voice was soft and firm, but it was obvious that it went unheard as the screaming continued and something made of glass broke.

“Tina.” A little louder this time, but still nothing.

Narrowing his eyes, Jared watched as the furious blonde across the room threw her hands into the air and continued to shout, her face red and her eyes puffy from crying. She snatched a picture from the wall and flung it at his head, but Jared was ready and simply moved to the side as it shattered behind him. Angered even more at her inability to hit him, Tina screamed another sentence but Jared had already tuned her out more than an hour ago. Truth be told, he wasn’t even sure why she was so angry with him, but to be even more brutally honest he had to admit that he didn’t even care.

She had moved in with him a few months ago and everything had seemed just fine until this morning. Jared wondered if maybe it was the severed hand in the refrigerator that had made her so angry. Suddenly a bit more interested in the current situation, he finally took note of the knife in Tina’s hand and decided to listen in on what she was saying.

“If you don’t let me out of this goddamn house I swear to god I’ll fucking stab you, you sick ass motherfucker!” Her voice was high pitched, skirting on the edge of hysteria.

On second though, Jared decided, he’d rather not listen to her after all. He sucked on the cigarette again and ran a calloused hand back through his stringy hair. The time had come to make a decision, and it irked him; he hated making choices, specifically ones of this magnitude. He had grown rather fond of Tina, after all; although, she was quickly fading from his graces as the day went. Stepping further away from the front door and closer to his very recent ex-girlfriend, Jared pulled a gun from his back pocket with one hand and took the cigarette from his mouth with the other.

“Tina you’re making me a little angry right now,” he began softly, his gray eyes locked onto hers, “And I want you to know that if you don’t calm down I’m going to shoot you.”

She began babbling erratically, and it took every once of strength Jared had not to shoot her right then and there. All he wanted was for her to stop screaming, couldn’t she understand that? With a sigh he checked to make sure the gun was loaded, then took another drag from his cigarette; he ignored his ex-girlfriend’s ever increasing pleads, demands and threats.

“Look Tina, we were having a great morning, weren’t we? Why don’t you just put down the knife and go sit back down on the couch. We’ll have some breakfast and decide what to do from here over coffee, what do you think? Doesn’t that sound better than me shooting you in the face?”

Apparently she didn’t agree. The blonde began pivoting to the right in an effort to make for the hallway, but Jared had already aimed the gun. Before she could take two steps a bullet, quieted by a silencer, tore through her knee and forced her to the floor. Her screams filled the air, but Jared knew they had passed the point of no return; she had to die now.

“See what you made me do sweetheart? I really liked you but you had to go and ruin things, didn’t you?”

Jared fired another shot into her lower back as she tried to crawl away, and another into her shoulder as she made a weak attempt to slash at him with the knife. Shaking his head, he leaned against the wall and lowered his gun as Tina writhed on the floor, her blood quickly soaking into the beige carpet, staining it forever.

“Ah well, life goes on, eh Tina?” Jared chucked, “Well maybe not for you, but you know what I mean.”

A final shot to the back of the head filled the room with serene silence, and Jared took a moment to appreciate it. Though the morning had begun roughly, he was sure that the rest of the day would run much more smoothly. He’d move Tina out of the house, and then take care of the severed hand in the refrigerator. Jared smiled, after that he’d be single again, and he knew a great club just down the street that had the cutest little bartenders. Yes, the day was looking up already.