It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you a “teaser” sentence or sentence fragment and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that sentence/fragment. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.
This week’s Story Starter teaser is:
“You don’t know me, but I’m the ex-wife of your new boyfriend,” the woman said to Pamela when she answered her door, “and he’s not who you think he is.”
If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.
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The Ex-Wife (1130 words)
By Tessa Dean May 2024
“You don’t know me, but I’m the ex-wife of your new boyfriend,” the woman said to Pamela when she answered her door, “and he’s not who you think he is.”
Pamela looked stunned. She didn’t know this woman, although she had often noticed her lurking around her street. She clearly had an agenda.
“What do you mean? Peter and I have been dating for several months now, and I know everything about him. He doesn’t keep me in the dark. I have met his family and friends. He never mentioned you. He said he had never been married before, and no one else told me about an ex-wife. What do you want from me?”
“Of course, he wouldn’t tell you about me. I am the wife who got away. All his ex-wives had met untimely and suspicious deaths. I started to look into his past when I became suspicious. I went into hiding with one of the cops at the local police station when I mentioned my suspicions about Peter, and he helped me look into his past. To be safe, he moved me in with him.”
Pamela tried to shut the door, but the woman put her foot into the space and blocked her from shutting the door all the way.
“You would be better off if you listened to me. I am only trying to protect you. I would hate to see another young woman die a mysterious death.”
“Go away before I call the police,” she said, pulling harder on the door, trying to shut the woman out. “I mean it. I will call the police. I don’t know what your agenda is, but I don’t believe you. Go away!”
The woman held a list of names and told her to look them up online. She would see that they all had one thing in common. They were all married to a Peter, with various last names. He changed his last name every time, but the description fits Peter, including the broken heart tattoo. She tried to hand the paper to the woman.
“Peter will be home soon, and I will tell him someone is trying to interfere with our lives.”
“Please listen to me,” the woman pleaded with her. “I am only trying to save your life. Listen, tell me, does he have a broken heart tattoo on his left bicep?”
The woman appeared to be thinking about what she had been told. She remembered that he had a tattoo on his left bicep and refused to talk about it. She had never pressed him about it since he wasn’t willing to talk about it. She had figured that he had a broken heart over some relationship, and that tattoo was a reminder of that time, and he didn’t want to talk about it with her. She never pushed it.
“Why should I listen to you?” she asked, letting the door open again. The woman pushed inside.
“Please listen to me. Do you have a computer handy so you can look these names up?”
“Ok, fine, come in quickly. There isn’t much time before Peter returns.
They settled at the computer, and Pamela started at the top of the list and looked each woman up and noted that each story talked about her husband with a tattoo on his left bicep and asking the public to be on the lookout for this man wanted in connection to the suspicious deaths of each woman. In each case, the man’s first name was Peter. The police were on the case and actively seeking information.
Pamela became uneasy and asked the woman her name. “Miranda Stillwell,” she replied.
Pamela started to tell Miranda that she noticed that he went out a lot, and he always insisted that he go alone. She was now beginning to wonder what he was up to during these times he left her alone. He took her out, of course, but he preferred to go out alone more often.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and the two women jumped. Peter looked at Miranda and shouted, “ What are YOU doing here?”
Miranda fumbled in her handbag for the can of mace she carried, but Peter was on her quickly. Pamela moved to the side and searched for her phone so she could call 9-1-1, but she couldn’t find it fast enough. Peter had pulled a gun on them.
Pamela, while in shock, asked Peter what he was doing. His attention was still drawn to Miranda. She noticed a cop coming in the still open door. He had a gun trained on Peter and told him to drop the gun and move away from the two women.
“Drop it,” he said again. His eyes never left Peter. “You aren’t getting away with another murder, Peter Weatherspoon. I have a witness to your escapades. Don’t try anything funny because I have a backup team arriving momentarily, and we are taking you in this time. Miranda, get over here and bring the woman with you. Get behind me.”
Peter just watched as Pamela followed Miranda to stand behind the policeman. He didn’t try to shoot her. He debated briefly about his options but finally put the gun down.
“How did you find me?” Peter asked.
“Miranda has been searching for you since you left her for dead at your old apartment. She was determined to bring you down for all the murders of your past ex-wives. You somehow didn’t manage to kill her, and since you left her for dead, a neighbor found her soon enough to save her life. You are not going to get away with this. Hopefully, Pamela here will also be a witness against you. Miranda mentioned that she was sure she had located you and would warn the girlfriend. She gave me her address so I could follow her and hopefully catch you here.”
Pamela was still in shock. “Peter, how could you? I trusted you. Why didn’t you tell me about your ex-wives? Why did all of your friends keep your past secret from me? No one ever mentioned Miranda or anyone else for that matter.”
“That’s because they didn’t know about my past. I had just met them all. They knew me as Peter Weatherspoon and that I was unmarried and had never been married before. Miranda wasn’t around to tell them, and to be honest, I had no idea she was still alive. I should have listened to the news, I guess.”
The backup team arrived, and Peter was handcuffed and taken outside for the ride to the police station. Miranda offered to take Pamela down to the police station so she could file a report and give a statement. She promised to bring her home again after she was done.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.wordpress.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.wordpress.com
Tessa Dean - Author 