Flash Fiction By K.G. Gardner
Turn left onto Richmond Road eastbound.
In 2.4 miles, use the right two lanes to stay on Richmond Road.
Pass the elementary school where you met him in fifth grade. You watched him play kickball. He smiled at you.
Slight right to stay on Richmond Road eastbound.
Pass the Thai restaurant where he bought you dinner before senior prom. He said your dress was too tight.
Make a right at the next light onto North Milton Road.
Pass the eighteenth century inn where he proposed to you in the candlelit library. He told you no other man would love you as much as he did.
Cross the Rivanna River. It feels like crossing the Rubicon, although you did that hours ago.
At the T intersection, turn right onto Clayton Road. Continue for three-quarters of a mile.
Make a right onto the gravel road that runs behind the old barn. Kill the lights.
At the end of the rotting wooden fence, turn left onto the dirt track.
Stop at the clearing on your right.
Put on your gloves.
Open the trunk and remove the shovel.
Dig a hole four feet deep, seven feet long, and three feet wide.
Remove him from the trunk. Lift with your legs.
Drop him in the hole. You’ll want to spit on him, but don’t leave any DNA evidence.
Cover him with dirt. One shovelful for every time he belittled you. Every time he gaslit you. Every time his fist made contact with your body.
Scatter fallen leaves and sticks over the grave. Say a prayer. For yourself.
Drive to the airport. Don’t look back.
Bio: K.G. Gardner is the pen name of Kristen Hallam, a content strategist, podcast host and writer of speculative and crime fiction. Her short stories have appeared in the Shenandoah Fantastic and the Charlottesville Fantastic anthologies. She is a member of the Charlottesville Writers Critique Circle, James River Writers and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She is working on a crime novel and several short stories. Find her authors page HERE.
Photo by: pexels/Erik McLean
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