You could hear the water running from the faucet. There she was, standing beside the sink, washing stains of blood off her dress.


Only she remembered what happened on her wedding. Only she did. Nobody else even knew about it. It was shortly after 11 pm on the Friday Michelle and Chris decided to get married on. The afterparty had just started an hour ago; most guests, like coworkers and their families had already left, but their closest friends had stayed to celebrate. Michelle didn't approve of her husband's decision to invite random coworkers to their wedding, since it was their day and not some work stuff, but he insisted.

It was a nice party, she did everything so that the guests would have fun, but at some point she had realised that her husband was missing. But not for a short period of time, half an hour had already passed and he still hadn't shown up. She was even more confused, when Chris didn't show up to say goodbye to Elijah, one of his closest friends who had to leave early, since he had promised his new girlfriend who was watching his kids, to be home by midnight. His wife had divorced him a couple years ago, for a reason unknown to anyone but the two of them. Elijah would never talk about her. Chris had asked him, if he would be fine with having his ex wife at their wedding and he said it was fine, since they apparently ended things on good terms. This whole evening, they just slightly smiled at each other. Nothing more.


Michelle started asking around, hoping to find her husband, but no matter with whom she talked about his sudden dissapearence, nobody seemed to know where he could be. Slowly she started to worry. She knew that Chris drank a lot that evening, so there could be a chance he was lying somewhere unconcious. But since she had looked everywhere already, she decided to sit and rest. "He'll show up eventually." She thought to herself, while walking inside. They were throwing the party in their garden and the minute she walked in, she was hit by fresh air. It was the middle of august, so the air outside was muggy and she felt relieved that they had installed a cooling system in the garden house. She heard their friends partying outside, but she just couldn't join back in yet, even though she knew it was her party. Their party. That's when the party music outside went down and she suddenly heard some noises coming from the little bathroom in their garden house.

She was confused. Could Chris be in there? She got up slowly and started tip toeing in the direction, where the sounds were coming from. The water was running. Maybe someone had opened the faucet to drown out the sounds of what was happening inside. As she got closer to the bathroom, she heard some quick movement. She stayed still. If her husband was in there, he wasn't in there alone. She hoped that it wouldn't turn out to be what she thought it was. Slowly, she pushed down the door handle and peeked inside.

Chris and Viola. Chris and Elijahs ex wife. Her husband and his best friends ex wife.

Quietly, she closed the door again. She couldn't believe, what she just witnessed. She couldn't understand. Why would he do this? How long has this already been going on? She couldn't breathe.

Michelle stood frozen in front of the door, her heart racing in her chest. The images of Chris and Viola - as if the world around them didn’t exist - burned themselves into her memory. A storm of anger and disappointment raged within her. She had never even thought about something going on between them. Between Chris and his best friends ex-wife. But seeing it unfold before her eyes felt like a punch to the gut.

Part of her wanted to run away, to leave the party behind and forget everything. But another part, deep within her, was resolute. She could no longer stand by and watch her life, her marriage, be destroyed by a man she had once trusted. Michelle was a woman who knew what she wanted, and in that moment, she wanted revenge.


The party was over, the guests had left. Chris had already gone to bed, while Michelle was still cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. As she was washing the kitchen knife, which was used for cutting the cake, an unholy idea crossed her mind. She hadn't shown Chris that she knew about him cheating yet, so he would think everything was fine, until she had planned her revenge. And there she had it. The knife was sharp, the steel gleaming in the dim light of the lamp. “It’s just a tool,” she whispered to herself. “It’s just a tool to achieve justice.” A cold smile crept across her face. Michelle had never been a violent person, but in that moment, she felt powerful, almost invincible.


Quietly she walked into the bedroom. You could hear a persons breath being taken, then a loud thud. Relieved, Michelle left the room.


Michelle hadn’t just killed Chris; she had also buried the illusion of her perfect marriage. In a single moment, everything she knew collapsed into bloody chaos. Shock overwhelmed her as Chris fell to the floor. The pain within her transformed into a dark satisfaction. She had done what she felt was necessary.


You could hear the water running from the faucet. Michelle was standing beside the sink, washing her dead husbands blood off her dress.


As the reality of what she had done sank in, Michelle stood still, the warm water from the faucet running over her shaking hands. The sound of the water seemed to laugh at her, reminding her of the chaos that had just happened. Michelle's mind raced, replaying the moment over and over. It had started with a small feeling of betrayal, a spark of anger that grew into a fire when she confronted Chris. In a moment of rage, her words turned into actions.

The kitchen knife, meant for cutting cake, became a weapon of heartbreak as she let her anger take over. “You betrayed me,” she had shouted, her voice breaking under the weight of her pain. Now, as she washed the blood from her dress, she felt both relief and horror. The picture-perfect wedding was gone, revealing the ugly truth beneath. No one would ever understand her choices in this moment of betrayal. She was alone in this dark reality, facing the consequences of her actions and unsure of what to do next. The party was over. The life she once knew slipped away, leaving only memories of what had been.