Death by Incense

gas

PHOTO PROMPT © Rowena Curtin

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Henry only needed to turn the gas back on for a little while. He’d arranged for the stove to have a significant leak. Rachel would smell it, but he would tell her she’s imagining things. Then he’d go outside pretending to tend to the garden.

When she came out complaining of a headache or dizziness, he’d suggest she stay with her sister Jeannie for the weekend. Anything to get rid of her and her damned nagging. Then he’d fix the leak, air out the house, and finally be able to relax.

He didn’t count on her lighting an incense stick.

It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 8 March 2024 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as a prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

Sorry to say but the first thing that entered my mind when I saw the natural gas valves in the picture was murder. But poisoning by natural gas takes a long time and has many unpleasant warning symptoms. Then I thought of a variation of the 1944 movie Gaslight. Henry would trick Rachel into believing the “rotten eggs” smell was all in her imagination.

Of course even the best of plans can go wrong.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

My science fiction short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” is featured in the anthology Spring Into SciFi 2024. You can pre-order it from Amazon now for delivery to your Kindle device on March 21, 2024. For information on how to get a paperback copy or to become an ARC reader, visit HERE.

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