For Better, For Worse
A story that landed me in the ring of fire.
This 249 word story was my submission for the Gibberish writing competition. I had to read the acceptance email several times before the penny dropped but I’m now fully aware that I’ll be writing a lot over the next four weeks! Myself and four other writers battle it out to see who will be the winner.
I’ll be publishing my weekly challenge stories on my Substack. If you don’t want to miss them, make sure you subscribe.
“How dare you.” she threw her handbag and car keys down on the counter with such force that they barely landed.
“I’m sorry, I thought it would be easier.” David held his hands up, dodging the bag.
“For who? You?” she was scowling, eyes bright with fury.
“For both of us. Remove the emotion from it or something.” He twiddled his thumbs as he sat on the bar stool like a boy waiting for Dad to come home and hear the bad news.
“David!” she cried. “It’s our marriage. Remove emotion from a marriage?”
“A divorce, actually. I want a divorce,” he said nervously.
“I got that,” Rachel hissed with a dramatic nod, “but you gave our therapist a note to give to me like I was, what? Some fling who got clingy and needed to be told to back off?”
“She was the calmest person we know.” Her husband remained seated, unsure, too calm.
“I can’t believe you. I can’t!” She poured herself a drink, took one gulp and slammed the glass down on the counter. It shattered into a million pieces. A new galaxy scattered across a black, granite surface. “What did I do?”
“Nothing.”
“Didn’t like your wish?”
“It was… good for a time.”
She screeched like a banshee now, pacing across the kitchen floor. “I was made for you and you don’t want me?”
“Not any more, Rachel.”
She flew across the island and held a small blade at his throat. “No refunds,” she whispered.
Below is the Gibberish writing competition announcement with everything you need to know about what, where, how, why and when. Enjoy! Keep an eye out for the work of
and this month, too!
I read this when I woke this morning and have been chewing on it since. The more I think about it the better it gets. I loved the mostly unspoken fact that she was "made" for him. With the "no refunds" bit, it took a little while for it to sink in how shallow & dystopian this relationship was, which in turn re-frames the "no emotions" comments in the middle. In a sense, it was never really love, was it? It was use. It was a transaction from the start, a choice to commercialize a person (or create something like a person), all for an experience he probably knew would be fleeting.
... of course that all assumes I'm reading the subtext correctly.
I second Hyun Woo. Fascinating to see how different our takes were. I'll have to get my own submission up here soon!
It's fascinating to read how different your take is from mine. Nice work!