{"id":1594,"date":"2023-05-09T07:49:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T07:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1594"},"modified":"2023-05-09T07:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T07:49:34","slug":"the-twelfth-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/the-twelfth-house\/1594\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twelfth House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Woman<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gerald and Cynthia stare at each other across the bare living room. Both are seated on dining room chairs pre-dating the Scandinavian conquest of British showrooms: dark split-cane curved into tense arcs ready to spring into injurious action at the loosening of a bracket. They were fine once, but now serve as little more than metaphors for the relationship playing out in this stark, damp room at the rear of number twelve Star Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Gerald broke the silence. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it would end this way. You and me, sitting here, hating each other. It\u2019s been thirty-three years, for God\u2019s sakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou should have thought of that before now. Using my money and selling our furniture to finance your gambling habit was the last straw.\u201d Cynthia looked at him with empty eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was doing it for you,\u201d he said, his voice low. \u201cI wanted a better life for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA better life?\u201d She looked around the room. \u201cA better life is one where we have security and stuff like furniture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald bowed his head. \u201cLook, I admit I got it wrong. But I\u2019ve never been able to crack the big time like I thought I would. And when I found your savings behind that panel in the wardrobe, I thought I could multiply it, but things got out of hand and I \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you blew the lot,\u201d Cynthia replied, \u201cplus some.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald tried to raise his hand, but the shackles holding him to the chair prevented all but the smallest movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou never even thought about where the money came from,\u201d Cynthia hissed. \u201cIt was just there, and you couldn\u2019t resist, could you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lifting the Taser lying on the floor in front of her, she said, \u201cDidn\u2019t expect this though, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCyn,\u201d he whispered, \u201cwhat are you saying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave I ever told you most serial killers are Pisces?\u201d Cynthia laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s why I chose this house. You never got it, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald whimpered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI kept this family together. I was dedicated to us, not just me, but US. I put the kids through university. I paid the mortgage. I\u2019m the one who put food on the table. That is commitment,\u201d she stood, weighing the taser in her hand, \u201cwhile you buggered about with your mad schemes. Where did you think the money came from? The tooth fairy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She raised the gun, pointing it at Gerald.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Cyn, that thing hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done far worse, Gerald. Far, far worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shooting him with the Taser came easily to her \u2013 she\u2019s done it many times before. He jerks like a string puppet, and slumps. Applying a neck tourniquet, she tightens it until he stops breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynthia picked up her phone and punched in a number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToni, it\u2019s done. Bring the van.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Phil?\u201d A voice asks from the other end of the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe can talk about him on the way to the pig farm,\u201d she replied. \u201cOh, and Toni \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWear your strappy top, darling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gerald broke the silence. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it would end this way. You and me, sitting here, hating each other. It\u2019s been thirty-three years, for God\u2019s sakes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[695,734],"tags":[739,737,740],"class_list":["post-1594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-695","category-may-2023-commitment","tag-pigs","tag-pisces","tag-serial-killer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-pI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1596,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594\/revisions\/1596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}