I watch as Maria sleeps, snoring gently.
I look at her then, kiss her cheek gently. She stirs. I would have gone for the lips, but she sleeps with her mouth slightly open as if in half-surprise; snoring.
I have been plotting something for her for a month.
“Good morning,” I greet her. She had confessed it before, how my morning voice turns some knobs in her.
“Hmm?” she grunts, half-awake now. From the corner of her eyes, she peers at me, then closes her eyes. No smile, no nothing. Not the usual.
Ever since we met and chose each other’s side on the same bed, she has been the one who was an early cock, rising at first light. For the past week or two, something has changed, or so I feel. Maybe it is the feeling in my stomach, the knot that I have been feeling growing inside my belly like an erection does in the pants. But an erection has a good feeling to it, not this knotty feeling in my stomach.
It has kept me up at night and woken me early in the morning, yet, when I lock myself in the toilet, nothing comes out apart from the sweat of trying.
Yet, I’ve kept on plotting.
This morning, right after I kissed Maria, the knot tightened, sending spasms of pain right through my core. It made me jump out of bed, towards the toilet, only to fall at the door. The knot, rising to my throat, was choking the breath out of me. A cackle breaks behind me. Maria.
“Sneaking around with my sister for a month, you thought I wouldn’t know?” She implored, arms akimbo.
While I plotted for her… Maria was plotting against me.
——–
Read – Screwdriver – A Flash Fiction by Oluseyi Onabanjo, Nigeria
Mayuba Bradley is a 24-year-old creative of both poetry and prose hailing from Bungoma, Western Kenya. He has authored a hybrid e-memoir dubbed Coronakles and has been featured as a co-author of Sensual Sneezes; a short story anthology. His poem; A Diadem of Words is featured in the recent issue of Poet’s Choice magazine titled Crowning Jewel. Mayuba prides himself as a book reviewer, as he is as passionate about reading as he is about writing. He is an undergraduate at the University of Embu with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Conservation and Natural Resource Management. Currently, he resides in Embu, working remotely.
