Free Story of the Week
Till Death Do Us Part
A Story of Love, Death and Mellification
Part I: Discussion
The park was beautiful at this time of night. The lamps above illuminated the walkway, leading through trees and bushes, lined by stones and benches. The light breeze brought the pleasant smells from various flowers that grew off the path.
It seemed the perfect autumn night.
Two figures stopped at one of the wooden benches, each taking a seat. Both were dressed in black from head to toe, their dark hair ruffling in the breeze. The late night walk seemed like the perfect ending after a special dinner that celebrated a year of courtship.
George took Desiree's hands in his own, stroking her palms with his thumbs. Such lovely pale hands she had. Such smooth skin which covered her slender frame. “Are we going to do it?” Desiree asked.
“Are we going to go through with it, just like we had planned?”
George nodded. “Just as we planned.”
Desiree took a knife from her purse. The blade was small but sharp, engraved with symbols. The light from the lamp above glinted off of the steel.
“I'll go first,” she said.
Desiree held the blade against her palm, slowly cutting through the skin. Blood seeped from the long wound, oozing down her open hand and dripping to the soil below
“Your turn,” she said, handing the knife to George.
He repeated her action, cutting into the flesh of his palm and bringing forth a flow of crimson. They joined their hands together, mixing their fluids and forming the blood oath they had agreed to perform.
They were now joined by blood.
“There's one more thing,” he said.
“What more could there be?”
George reached into his pocket and produced an engagement ring. He slid the diamond ring onto her finger, bringing forth a squeal of delight from the beautiful woman.
“I figure we can be married on Halloween,” he said. “What better day for a morbid couple like us to be joined? After all, we may as well make this legally binding.”
“I’m so excited,” she said, her lips spreading into an enormous grin.
Desiree had vocalized her desire to be wed on Halloween. In fact, she had mentioned it many times. The blood oath was only a part of the plans they had discussed.
“Then it's settled.”
“There’s only one problem.”
“What would that be?” he asked, sporting a smile of his own.
“I took a vow,” she said.
"I also took a vow," he muttered, his eyes returning to her thin fingers.
"Till death do us part," she said.
“Surely, those vows were nullified when our previous marriages collapsed,” he reasoned.
She shook her head. “A vow is a vow, my love. Just as our blood oath joins us together, so the vow of marriage is until death.”
He traced his finger down hers, stopping at her black painted nails. Looking up to meet her gaze, he stared at her smiling black lips. She wore the goth look so perfectly.
This hadn’t entirely gone the way he had planned. He envisioned her saying yes to his proposal. Not once had the thought occurred to him that she would take the conversation into this direction.
"What shall we do?" she asked.
George stood and paced along the walkway for a moment before answering, piecing things together in his mind. It shouldn't be this complicated. Yet, here they were, taking their previous vows seriously.
George and Desiree wished to be married. They had discussed it, planned it and saved for it. The only problem: both had been married and divorced. They both took their previous vows seriously, yet he had imagined she would have moved past it by now. After all, he was certain that he had.
Till Death do us part.
The other problem? Their previous spouses were still alive. This complicated things for them. True, people often remarried after being divorced. George and Desiree, however, took the vows far more seriously, just as they would take them seriously when they wed. George had been willing to overlook it. It seemed that Desiree was not.
"I'm open to suggestions," he answered.
"You already know the answer."
George chewed his lip. "Are we really that morbid?"
"We are," she said in a low voice.
George wasn’t sure which worried him more: the fact that their discussion seemed to be indicating murder, or that they were so calm about it. How could they possibly be considering this? How could they be discussing it with the same carefree tone they would use discussing the choices for their wedding dinner?
"You have a plan?" he asked.
She nodded. "I do."
He touched her ashen cheek before running his fingers through her long black hair. He would do anything for her.
"What do we need?”
“Nothing much,” she said. “We will need chloroform and something to bind them with.”
“That should be fairly simple.”
“You can get the chloroform without any problems?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied. “I have my sources. I’ll have it by tomorrow night.”
“You’re willing to go all the way with this?”
George nodded slowly. “Once it’s over, we get married?”
Desiree smiled as she looked down at the ring on her finger. “Right after we finish, we get married. So, when should we do it?”
“Tomorrow night,” he said. “I’ll get the stuff tomorrow. We can find them tomorrow night.”
Desiree beamed and hugged him tight. “I'll be ready.”
They slowly made their way back toward the road, George's mind racing about what was to come.
Part II: Abduction
The following night, a tall, lean, bearded man made his way from the back door of the plaza, slowly walking toward his car. His keys jingled where they swung from the belt loop of his security guard uniform. A small light from the end of his cigarette glowed in the darkness as he took a drag.
The man's name was Darren and he was Desiree's ex husband.
From the trees on the side of the parking lot, George and Desiree watched in silence, waiting for the right moment to strike. Even with the planning, George felt anxious about what they were doing. Plans could go wrong, and they had little time to prepare.
“You're still sure about this?” George asked as he stared at Desiree's ex husband.
She nodded. “I'll distract him while you sneak up behind him . I'll lure him into the trees, out of sight of the cameras.”
He had forgotten about the cameras. Thankfully, she seemed less anxious and focused.
Before he could respond, Desiree was in motion. He watched her move to the trees near the dumpster and begin pounding on the metal side.
“Who's there?” The man yelled, taking his cigarette from his lips.
Desiree didn't answer. Instead, she wrapped on the side of the dumpster, again.
Darren slowly crept toward the dumpster, his steps light and careful. The attempt at stealth was a wasted effort. After all, George and Desiree were well aware of his every move.
Darren stopped in his tracks when Desiree came into view. A smile crossed her lips as she swayed back and forth seductively.
“What are you doing out here in the dark?” Darren asked.
“Come with me into the trees,” she said with a wink. “We can make out in the dark, just like we used to.”
“What about George?” He asked, glancing around as if searching for her other half.
Desiree giggled. “ Don't worry about George. You just leave him to me.”
The man followed her into the trees, unaware of George, following a few yards behind them.
“Where is your boyfriend?” Darren asked when they had stopped behind a large tree.
“He's here,” she said
Before he could respond, George was on the man's back, his left arm around his neck while his right hand covered his nose and mouth with the chloroform soaked rag. After a minimal struggle, Desiree's ex husband dropped to the ground, unconscious.
“One down,” Desiree whispered. “One to go.”
* * * *
A blonde woman stepped from the driver side of her car, and headed for the front door of her house, fumbling her keys along the way. Her heels clicked on the concrete driveway as she neared the door.
She stopped as a small orange egg that appeared to be from a gumball machine rolled across the ground in front of her. She bent down, retrieved it and opened it.
“Candy corn,” she said as she dumped the contents out into her palm.
Another egg rolled across the ground, stopping in front of her foot.
“George,” she said.
No answer.
She glanced around before walking to the side of the house.
“I know it's you, George. No one else gave me candy corn in orange eggs this time of year.”
“That's because I'm more original than anyone else, Cheryl,” George said from the dark beside the patio.
“Are you alone?” She asked, stepping into the darkness.
“I'm alone.”
“What about your bitch of a girlfriend?”
“Her name is Desiree,” he answered. “Come closer and you'll see I'm alone.”
Cheryl began inching towards him, her eyes squinting in the darkness. “If this is a trick, I swear I'll shove these plastic eggs right up your ass!”
“That's not very lady-like,” he said, keeping his eyes open for Desiree.
“If your morbid girlfriend isn't here, come inside and I'll show you lady-like.”
George watched with a quickened pulse as the shadowy figure of Desiree flew from behind the fuel tank, her hand containing the rag engulfing the woman's face.
“You haven't seen bitch, yet,” Desiree hissed. “And you certainly haven't seen how morbid I can be.”
Cheryl's flailing and struggling slowed, then stopped altogether as the chloroform took hold. Her body slumped to the ground, Desiree standing over her fallen form.
With both abductions successful, it was time to move to the next phase of the plan.
* * * *
George and Desiree stood over the two unconscious figures in their back yard, knives in hand. The plan was to slit their throats, here in the backyard before the chloroform could wear off.
Abducting their former spouses had been easier than George had thought possible. Learning their routines over the years had made it easy to follow them to seclusion and render them unconscious. From there, they transferred them to the backyard of their home to finish the job.
Two shovels rested against the nearby tree, waiting to be put to use digging holes.
“There’s no turning back now,” George said, kneeling next to his ex-wife’s motionless form. "Are you ready?”
Desiree nodded reluctantly. “As ready as I can be.”
“We do it on the count of three.”
“On three,” Desiree agreed.
George placed the blade against the soft skin of the immobile woman’s throat. “One, two…”
“Wait!” Desiree said, cutting him off.
“What is it, now?”
"I can't do it," Desiree said.
George looked at her, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I can't imagine never seeing him again," she said. "If we bury them, it's like they are gone forever."
"They will be gone forever. That's the point."
"Not if we can see them," she reasoned.
He frowned at her. “In a short time, you're not going to want to see them. Once they start decaying, you'll wish we had buried them.”
“So we slow the decaying process until we feel the need to bury them.”
“How do you intend to do that?” George asked in disbelief.
She shrugged. “ Stuff and mount them?”
“We don't know a damn thing about taxidermy,” he said, somewhat annoyed now.
“You're smart,” she said. “I know you'll think of something.”
“This is crazy.”
“So are we.”
George shook his head. “No one takes vows this seriously.”
“It’s time someone does,” she insisted. “Can we embalm them?”
“No.” he said. “That would take dangerous chemicals that we can’t even get ahold of.”
“We can rob a mortuary.” she said with a mischievous tone in her voice. “Wouldn't that be sexy as hell? Robbing a mortuary in the middle of the night?”
“Not a chance. We are already pushing our luck.”
“We can plan it out and make it work.”
“We don’t have that kind of time,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “They will start to rot while we are planning, and embalming and mummification are not options.”
“Can we keep them in a freezer until we can make a plan?” she asked.
“We don’t have a freezer that big. Besides, this entire idea is so insane. No one would ever go through all this.”
“We can be the first,” she said with a large smile. “We can start our marriage in a way no one has ever done before. Just imagine making love on our wedding night in front of them, taunting them. We just need a way to do it.”
George couldn't believe he was actually considering going along with this insanity. What if they get caught? Still, he would do anything for her. He thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
“Mellification,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Mellification,” he repeated. “Honey will slow the decaying process. Ideally, we would have to start before they die. I think it could work, though.”
She smiled at him. “Perfect! How do we begin?”
“We need two large basins and a lot of honey. I'll make a couple of calls to have the stuff delivered. After that, we will secure them in the basement and begin the process..”
“And this will slow the decaying process until we are ready to bury them?” Desiree asked.
“If this works as I intend, we won't need to bury them.” “What do you mean?” He smiled at her.
“I'll explain when the time comes. In a way, they will always be a part of our lives.”
Somehow, through the course of this conversation, his thought process seemed to have been changed. Some dark and twisted door had opened in his mind, drawing him into some warped fascination with the concept. It was almost erotic.
There would be time for those thoughts later. For now, he had to prepare to secure the items they would need to carry out this horrific endeavor.
“Help me get them to the basement,” he said. “We will need to get them secured before they can regain consciousness.”
“Regain consciousness?” She asked.
“If you want this to work, we have to keep them alive long enough to prepare them. If we kill them first, they will start to decay before the honey has a chance to work. They're going to be conscious.”
“Oh, I like the twisted way you think,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
George wasn't so sure he liked it. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back now.
Part III: Preparation
They dragged their captive into the house and down the stairs to the basement. Once there, George cut part of the seat out of two patio chairs that had been stored in the corner and placed a plastic bucket beneath each one. The still motionless individuals were then stripped of their clothing and secured to the chairs by leather straps at the wrists and ankles. Wide tape was placed over their mouths to keep them from screaming as they woke and the disorientation began to wear off.
As the two captives began to regain their senses, Desiree knelt beside her ex-husband and placed her hand on his thigh. His eyes darted left and right, seemingly taking in his surroundings as panic visibly shook him.
“Don’t struggle,” Desiree said in a reassuring voice. “I want to marry again. This is the only way. You want me to be happy again, don’t you?”
If the man understood, he didn't show it. Breaths came rapidly through his nose as he fought against his bindings. George’s ex-wife was displaying the same panic. It was likely to be a nerve-wracking week of preparation. Still, the week of making them consume the honey was a necessary step. The process of decay must be slowed from the inside, as well as the outside.
“We must rub their bodies down with honey every day,” George informed Desiree. “We can bathe their skin at the end of the week, but they must be kept covered in a thin layer through the preparation.”
“I understand,” she said.
“We have to bathe them first.”
“I'll follow your instructions to the letter,” she promised.
Turning to the captives, he looked at each one briefly before speaking again. “I’m going to remove the tape from your mouth, once you are calm. No one will hear you scream, so you may as well not even attempt it.”
Tears streaming down their faces, the two nodded in comprehension. As the tape was removed, they began to hyperventilate with fear. He felt pity for them. However, pity would not help him enter into matrimony with Desiree.
“Why are you doing this?” the man asked.
“Till death do us part,” Desiree answered. “If George and I are to marry again, you both need to die.”
George’s ex-wife sobbed. “Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. “I can move away, if that’s what you need. You can think of me as dead.”
George shook his head. “She’s right. It wouldn’t be the same.”
“And murder is justified?” she said between sobs.
“We took vows regarding our marriages,” Desiree said. “We took no vows regarding murder, or how death would do us part.”
“You're mad,” the man said. “What do you intend to put on our death certificates?”
“There won't be any death certificates,” George answered.
“You can't possibly get away with this,” Darren insisted.
“Oh, yes we will,” Desiree said.
“Enough of this discussion,” George said, annoyed now. “We have planning to do and supplies to get. You two will be safe down here until we can get the preparations started.”
He moved to the stairs with Desiree following close behind. The sounds of weeping behind them tore at his heart, yet he must maintain his focus. Otherwise, this could all fall apart much too quickly.
* * * *
With bathing completed, the captives were returned to their seats and secured. Now came the daunting task of feeding them honey each day and rubbing the sticky substance over their entire surface. The process would take a week and they would be required to make sure enough honey was consumed.
There was also the matter of emptying the bucket beneath each chair. Though this was the worst of the duties, they agreed to take turns. George had dug a hole in the back yard to dispose of the waste, in the far corner away from the house.
The plan seemed to be falling into place. In one week they would complete the process, just in time for a visit to the justice of the peace on Halloween day.
It seemed almost too perfect.
That night, George slid into bed, next to Desiree. She was still, yet awake. He slid his hand onto her hip and kissed her neck, causing her to moan.
She rolled over and kissed him, running her fingers along his arm. Suddenly, she stopped and pulled back.
“Wait,” she said, placing a hand on his cheek.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Just wait,” she repeated. “I'll be right back.”
George watched her leave, walking naked from the room. It was hard to tell what strange things went through her head. The woman was always full of surprises.
He heard her footsteps descending to the basement. What could she possibly be doing down there? Should he check on her?
A moment later, screams and cries erupted from beneath him. He sat straight up, unsure of what to think. Still he waited as her footsteps returned.
Desiree entered the room, holding the two pieces of tape that had been placed over the captives' mouths, one in each hand.
“I've always wanted to have sex to the sound of absolute terror,” she said with a twisted grin.
At first, the thought seemed so disturbing to George. As Desiree straddled him, the horrifying screams and sobs from below made it difficult to focus. Soon, however, he felt exhilarated.
“Hot, isn't it?” She whispered in his ear, almost gasping.
“Are we really this morbid?” He asked, sweat prickling his every pore.
“Yes,” she said. “We really are.”
It was the most intense moment the two had ever shared. The horrifying cries beneath were a match by Desiree's own cries until the couple collapsed, exhausted.
“That was different,” he said, panting hard.
“That was incredible.”
“Morbidly amazing?”
She kissed him deep. “I could get used to freaky stuff like this “
The thought gave George pause, until he realized just how far they had already gone. At this point, nothing seemed too extreme. It almost frightened him.
“I want to taste their blood when we do it,” she said.
“What?”
“When we take their lives, I want to taste their blood.”
This caught him off guard, though he wasn't sure why, as crazy as things had already gotten. “Both of them?”
“Yes “
“Why?”
“To keep something of them inside me,” she said.
He suddenly felt anxious again. She must have sensed his unease, curling up beside him and nuzzling her face to his chest.
Her warm, sweaty skin against his calmed his anxiety until he drifted off to sleep.
One more week and it would all be behind them.
Part IV: Mellification
It had been a long week of feeding their former spouses nothing but honey, ensuring there was nothing else in their digestive tracts. The last several times they had emptied the buckets beneath the chairs had shown this to be the case. There seemed to be nothing more than the syrupy substance exiting them now, as had been the plan.
Getting them to eat the honey willingly had proved more difficult than anticipated, making it necessary to resort to force feeding. Still, the week ended successfully and the two were now ready for the final steps.
It was time.
The two large basins had been filled with the sweet, syrupy honey and kept heated to keep the substance from crystallizing before the bodies could be placed in it. In the center of the floor was a large sheet of plastic.
“They're pale,” Desiree said.
“All their energy is gone,” George added. “They won't be able to put up much of a struggle.”
“What do we do now?” she inquired.
George glanced up at the chains secured to the basement ceiling, leather straps with buckles hanging off the ends. “We need to bleed them out.”
Amidst the muffled screams of the two naked captives, George loosened the binding of his ex-wife and dragged her by the legs to the center of the basement floor. Her struggling seemed minimal but the thrashing still made it a difficult task, but he managed to get her to the desired location and secure the leather straps to her ankles. It wasn’t long before she was dangling above, hanging upside down.
“I thought they wouldn't struggle,” she said.
George shrugged. “Pure desperation and adrenaline, I guess “
George slid a large metal bucket beneath her, resting on top of the plastic sheet. One quick swipe of the knife opened her throat. Her eyes widened as her blood began to pour from the gaping hole, flooding into the bucket.
Desiree turned quickly from the grisly scene and retched.
Within moments, the thrashing stopped and George’s ex-wife remained still. He waited for the last drops of blood to fall into the bucket before slowly lowering her to the floor and moving her corpse to the edge of the plastic.
“Now him,” he said, moving to Desiree’s ex-husband.
When both bodies were properly cleaned from all the blood, George and Desiree hoisted the bodies from the floor, one at a time and lowered each into a basin of honey. This would be wear they remained until they were prepared to move on.
The honey was not too deep, just enough to barely cover the bodies. As it crystalized, they should still be able to make out the features of the corpses within. If not, George would figure out a way to slowly warm the honey without affecting the bodies.
“What now?” Desiree asked.
“You wanted to taste their blood.”
She smiled wickedly. “I do.”
He dipped a cup into the blood, lifting it afterward and handing it to her. She lifted it slowly to her lips, as if unsure of whether or not she could go through with it. Finally, she took a sip and licked her lips.
“It's sweet,” she said, taking another sip and handing the cup to him. “Try it.”
“This was something you wanted, not me.”
She cocked head and held the cup closer to him. “Try it, for me.“
He thought for a moment before taking the cup from her. “Fine, I'll try it.”
He took a sip, unsure of what to expect. It was salty and metallic, yet there was a sweetness to it. No doubt, this would be from the honey in their system.
“It's sweet and syrupy,” she said. He nodded.
“A little bit, yes.”
“What now?”
“Now, we marry,” he responded. “With them no longer alive, we can go to the courthouse and be married tomorrow.”
“On Halloween?”
“Yes,” he said. “On Halloween.”
Desiree beamed and nodded. “We will marry tomorrow.”
Part V: Celebration and Consummation
George and Desiree stood before the Justice of the Peace, prepared to take the vows that would bring their two lives into one. Standing in the corner was someone they had never met, now acting as the witness.
Desiree wore a black, lacy dress with a red corsage. Her lips were adorned in black lipstick and her eyes lined to match.
She was beautiful.
George smiled at her, stunned by the site before him. All they had gone through for this moment, and here they were, finally joining together. Surely, no one else had gone to these lengths for a future together. No one, that is, until George and Desiree took things as seriously as marriage was to be taken.
That was how they felt, anyway.
The words meant a great deal to both of them. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. As long as you both shall live.
It was when they got to the part about “‘Till death do we part’ that Desiree gave him a wink and a mischievous smile. They way she said it bored more of an emphasis. She sounded out each syllable, as if it was the most important part. George echoed her emphasis on the line.
“Till death do us part.”
In the days ahead, there would be questions. There would be a search. It was inevitable. Yet, at this moment, he refused to concern himself with those details.
Today was about the joining. It was about their lives becoming one.
Today was about reciting vows and taking those vows seriously. No matter the cost, there was no turning back as they finished with two words.
“I do.”
* * * *
George and Desiree returned home from being wed at the courthouse. A new life together was about to begin, a union spawned in the midst of horrific circumstances devised to honor their previous vows.
“To the bedroom?” George asked with a broad smile.
“No,” she answered. “To the basement.”
He looked quizzically at her. “The basement?”
She nodded. “I want to consummate our marriage in front of them. Bring some pillows and a blanket.”
George retrieved the pillows and blankets before meeting Desiree in the basement. She was already undressed when he arrived, standing over her ex-husband’s basin.
“Now, you will both be able to share this moment with us,” she said.
George laid the thicker blanket on the floor and set the two pillows at the edge. Removing his clothing, he sprawled out and pulled the other blanket over him. Within seconds, Desiree joined him and they began their session of lovemaking.
George pushed the thoughts of the two bodies out of his mind, though they were no more than six feet away. Somehow, it seemed more morbid than he anticipated and he was unable to get himself into the mood until he was no longer thinking about their presence.
When they had finished, they rested on the blanket, side by side.
“That was incredible,” she said, still catching her breath.
“I’d prefer to use the bedroom, from now on,” he responded.
“It’s a promise.”
“Good.”
“How long until we bury them?” Desiree asked.
“Whenever we decide to bury them,” he replied. “We wouldn't even need to, if we were so inclined.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “They can’t remain in the honey forever, can they?”
George pulled her close to him, tugging the covers to her chin to keep her warm. “They are filled with honey and submerged in it. When mellification was used in the past, the bodies were consumed as confections.”
Desiree looked into his eyes, her face registering sock. “We are going to eat them?”
“No, not us,” he said with a laugh. “it takes longer than we will be alive before something like that is supposed to be considered safe.”
“But we can wait until we are ready to put them in the ground?”
“As long as it takes you to be ready,” he assured her.
“You’ve thought of everything,” she said, her voice relaxing.
“Promise me one thing.”
“Anything,” she said.
“If you divorce me, you will do the same to me, if circumstances arise.” S
he looked at him again. “Kill you and submerge you in honey?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Until the day comes that you are ready to bury me.”
“If that is your wish.”
“And you will extinguish my life before remarrying.”
“Yes.”
“And drink my blood, so a part of me is always with you.”
“Are we really this morbid?” She asked.
“Yes,” he said. “We really are.”
She nodded. “Of course. Till death do us part.”
“Till death do us part,” he echoed.
© Copyright David Luquer