AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I couldn’t,’ I said, my stomach churning.
With a shrug, she popped the cheese into her mouth. Hugh was tied to a wooden chair at the dining table, his face a sickly grey.
Boy, he must be having some real regrets right about now.
Harriet raked through his cupboard, beaming as she found the food processor. It still contained the plastic packaging it had come with. Never even been used.
‘Well look at that, it’s almost as if you bought it just for me. It’s a good one too. Nice sharp blades,’ she said.
Hugh gave a low moan in the corner.
She bounced over to the large American-style fridge freezer, pulling the door open and taking out the tub of meat. Bowls of chopped onions and garlic, herbs and seasonings littered the countertop where she worked. Plus, her trusty mustard tin of poison.
‘Just a quick blitz of the frozen cubes, and it’ll mince them right down.’ The way the meat landed with small thumps in the food processor made me queasy. The processor jumped to life as Hugh softly sobbed behind me.
Before long, she piled the meat into a bowl and then set two pans on the countertop. Working merrily, she whipped up a bechamel sauce in one while frying the onions and garlic in the other. Adding the meat, the salty, bacon-y smell wafted towards me. It smelled good, and I retched.
Adding the passata, and then the remaining ingredients, she stirred away at the stove. It was a perfectly domestic little horror scene. Picture perfect—if not for the bleeding man in the corner with the severed tendons.
She sprinkled some of the poison into the mixture before scooping a small spoonful out and blowing it. I jumped to my feet, half expecting her to pop it in her mouth.
‘Don’t worry. Our friend Hugh is going to try it for us. Can’t have us feeding subpar lasagne to his friends, can we?’ Harriet walked over to him, holding the spoon out like a delighted girlfriend rather than a vengeful aggressor.
Hugh didn’t even know about the poison, but he turned his head away, his sobs growing in ferocity.
‘Oh, Hugh,’ Harriet said, climbing over the growing red puddle pooling on the floor beneath the large hunk of thigh she’d hacked off. ‘You’ve put your flesh in mouths where it didn’t belong a hundred times before. What’s once more?’
Gripping his hair, she yanked his head back until she had forced his mouth open. She rammed the spoon into his mouth, feeding him his own thigh-based lasagne. Slamming her hand over his mouth, she repeated her actions from upstairs, blocking his nose and mouth until he forced it down.
‘How long?’ I asked through a choked breath, revulsion prickling my spine.
‘Five minutes, if I’ve measured right.’
She went back to the countertop and started layering the two sauces between the lasagne sheets she’d made at home. Layer by layer, adding mozzarella as she went, it took shape.
Right on cue, Hugh started to cough and splutter so hard that his chair tipped right over.
‘Perfect,’ she said with a grin.
I collapsed down on the sofa next to Alfie.
The blue computer light reflected against his face, the dark curls of his tattoos creeping up his neck. I wanted to indulge myself in him to free me from the horrors of the kitchen.
‘It smells so damn good, right?’ Alfie said.
‘I don’t think I’ll be able to eat lasagne again. Ever.’ I moved closer to Alfie, pulling him back against my chest and breathing him in. The garlicky meat smell still overpowered.
‘Is she okay?’ Alfie glanced towards the kitchen where Harriet murmured happily.
‘Seems to be. If anything, I’d say she’s bloody well thriving.’
Alfie leaned his head back against my shoulder, tipping his face to mine. Reaching up, I swiped his dark hair away from his eyes. A smile ghosted over his lips.
‘Do you think it’ll really help her?’ he asked.
‘I hope so. If anyone deserves some peace within their own brain, it’s Harriet.’
‘Are my ears burning?’ Harriet came into the room, smile on her face. She sat across us and wrapped her arms around my neck.
