Catherine plummeting twelve stories from their balcony meant Edward had committed three untraceable uxoricides, each at Christmastime. He didn’t hate women per se; dead wives were just thrillingly profitable.
He stepped inside to call the police and found his phone dead. Hers was on the kitchen counter, ringing. Caller ID: “Catherine.”
He answered. “Who is this?”
“Does uxoricide help you sleep, Edward?”
He returned to the balcony rail and looked. Far below, her crushed body faced him, wild eyes catching him like hands, pitching him into the air between them.
She whimpered, “I’ve never killed a husband. What’s it like?”
This original flash fiction is part of Loren Eaton’s 2025 Advent Ghost Storytelling Fest. Read other entries posted or linked on his blog, and let me know what you think of this one. You can find more 100-word stories like this by searching the tag “Advent Ghost Stories” or “Flash fiction.”
Uxoricide (noun): “The killing of a wife by her spouse.”
Man, I love learning stuff when I read what you guys write! This really good, Phil. It starts off like black-as-tar crime fiction and then becomes … something different. Remind me of “The Cats of Ulthar” (https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cu.aspx).
Dark! Fits the bill.
A most fine hook in the tale.