FIFTY-NINESEPTEMBER 2023

Aimee

I placed the thermos of vegetable soup into my tote bag and did a quick check of Archie. He was still sleeping on the sofa. He’d be out for a while. I’d added just enough sleeping pills to his cup of tea for a solid nap.

I bundled up and walked the short distance to Robin’s farm. It was cold and dark on the lonely country road, but not windy so it wasn’t too bad.

I knew I must be as discreet as possible.

The lights were on downstairs, and I saw Robin moving around in the kitchen. I hoped she hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

I put a bright, friendly smile on my face and rang her doorbell. I saw her walk toward the door through the sheer curtains on the glass panel on the front door. She opened the door, surprised to see me.

“Aimee!” She smiled. “Come in.”

“Hey, I made some vegetable soup and thought you might like some for dinner.” I held up the thermos.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” she said. “I was just wondering what to have.”

“Great,” I replied, taking off my coat.

“I didn’t see your headlights.” She poured some of the soup into a bowl. “Usually, they shine in the windows of the house when you go around the turn in the lane.”

I nodded, watching her grab a spoon and eat the soup. I made small talk for a few minutes as she ate.

“This is really good soup,” she remarked. “Has a bit of a different taste than usual.”

I smiled, but didn’t respond. That unusual taste was ground peanuts in the soup broth. A few minutes passed until she started gasping. Her face swelled, as I expected.

“Aimee, my EpiPen.” She fumbled in her kitchen drawer, then tried to reach her purse on the kitchen counter. I moved it farther away.

Not that it mattered. All her EpiPens were in my tote bag. I took them a few days before when I slept over here. It was amazing how fast it happened. Robin stumbled and fell on the kitchen floor, wheezing.

Then she silenced.

Permanently.

I put on plastic gloves and hurried around the kitchen to complete my mission. I took out a container of vegetable soup from my tote bag that I had purchased from the grocery store, poured about three quarters of it down the sink, then added a bit of my peanut laced soup to it and placed it in the refrigerator. I put my thermos back into my bag. Then, I replaced all the EpiPens that I had taken back into their normal spots.

Mission complete.

I slung my tote bag on my arm, and surveyed the area to make sure everything was as it should be. My gaze went to Robin, now lying dead on her parents’ kitchen floor.

It was a shame. I really liked her. We were becoming good friends, but that was an illusion. She was never really my friend. The only friend she really wanted was Archie. And I wasn’t going to let that happen. I had learned from my past.

Three weeks ago, I was at the grocery store when I saw them standing in the parking lot. Archie told me they were going shopping together for some supplies for a science project both classes were doing the following week. They stood by her car, talking, and I almost walked over to join them, but hesitated. They put the grocery bags into her trunk. She closed it, then turned to Archie, moving closer. She leaned in, they were about the same height, he was only slighter taller than her, and kissed him.

On the lips.

He backed away, hesitating a moment, which I didn’t like, but he did back away, and shook his head.

They talked for a few more minutes, him standing a substantial distance from her, and each got into their cars and left the parking lot.

Goodbye, Robin.

I turned around and walked out the door.

SIXTY2024

Aimee

“I killed Robin,” I said calmly. “And Angela. I saw Robin kiss you in the parking lot, and I found the love note Angela gave you.”

“But why? Why would you do that?” he asked, moving closer to me. He stopped midway across the room.

I rounded the table and stood a few feet away from him. “They were a threat to me. A threat to this beautiful life I created with you. I wouldn’t let them take you away from me. I’m supposed to be the center of your world, and I don’t share with anyone.”

Archie stared at me, his emotions tucked away, unreadable. But the vein on the right side of his neck pulsated, a physical indication of his surging anger. “So, you killed them? And what about Aunt Lou? You killed that sweet old woman for her money!”

Heat crept through my body, my burning inside fury, always present, mounted into an inferno at the disgusting, vile words he spat at me. I would never hurt Aunt Lou. Never! I didn’t kill her; it was an accident. I loved Aunt Lou.

I lunged at Archie, catching him by surprise, and pushed him down, his face going into the bowl of mashed potatoes. I eyed the serving knife, shiny, sharp steel, lying next to the roast beef platter. Archie jerked up, pushing me onto the floor.

“You killed all of these people!” he screamed. Mashed potatoes smeared across his face. He swiped it with his hand. His eyes gleamed with fury through the white substance.

I jumped up and ran around the table. “I did not kill Aunt Lou! Never say that again.”

“You expect me to believe that?” he roared, rounding the table behind me.

“I didn’t kill Nick either,” I screamed. “And I could have.”

“Fucking psycho.” Archie snatched the knife from the table.

I ran into the kitchen, reached into my back jeans pocket, and retrieved my handgun.

Archie charged me with the knife, but he stopped when I pointed the gun at him.

They always do.

“Oh, now you’re going to shoot me? How are you going to get away with that?”

A closet door squeaked open in the laundry room. I’d been expecting it. I had also expected the person waiting in there to join us. It certainly took him long enough. Relief shone in Archie’s eyes for a second, until he registered what the man was doing.

John Larabe stood on my side of the kitchen, dressed in his usual blue work shirt and giant belt buckle. He reached behind him and retrieved a handgun, then directed it at Archie.

“Probably self-defense, but I’m going to do it so she doesn’t have to worry about it.”

John pulled the trigger, and Archie collapsed to the ground.