Josh begin to panic.  How does one tell someone that there wife is dead? He ran down the hallway, that he had are ready been down and begin to search for Paul.

He found him sitting in the main room, watching the fire. He had no idea his wife was dead, and for that, Josh pitted him. He took a deep breath, and thought of his own wife sitting at home with there wonderful daughter. What would I do if Annie or even Lisa was dead? Annie, his wife, had long bouncing blond curls, which there daughter, Lisa had gotten from her Mother.

“Excuse, me? Umm, Paul, there is something you should see.” Josh murmured, watching his feet. Paul looked up, and smiled.

 “Yes?” He said joyfully. Poor man, he doesn’t know his wife is dead.

“Can you come to my room? I DIDN’T DO IT!” He yelled before he could stop himself.

“What do you mean?” Paul jumped up and ran to Josh’s room, with Josh on his tail. A gasp went out from the Asian man as he say his wife. He dropped to his knees and cradled his wife’s head in his lap. He let a sob. He looked up at Josh and sneered.

 “You Bastard! You killed her!” He shouted, tears running down his face.

“No! I swear, I didn’t! I just passed out-and she was on the floor!” Josh dropped to his knees. “Besides, why would I kill her?’

 “Becouse..I don’t know! But you were the only person here! You found her in here, I amuse? Or you killed in here, I mean.” He snapped. He dropped his dainty wife on the ground, got up and pushed Josh against the wall.

“I swear, Paul, I didn’t kill her!” josh cried.

“You know, I thought America’s soldiers where the best our country had to offer. I now know that to be wrong. Killing innocent women. That’s like killing a little child.” He sneered.

Josh had enough. He got lose one arm and punched Paul in the right eye. He had to admit, he had a killer right hook. Paul stumbled back, so Josh ran out of the room, down the hall and into the main lobby. He ran behind the desk and looked for the phone. When he found it, he dialed the police’s number.  No ring. The phones were down.

“DAMN IT!” Josh yelled before he could stop himself. He begin to think, but he was rudely interrupted.

“JOSH! WHAT THE HELL?” Paul’s angrily voice called from in front of him. Josh gulped and stayed hidden. Till Paul found him.

“How could you?” Paul asked once again.

“How could I what?” Josh replied coolly.

“Kill Julia! She never did anything to you!” Paul yelled in Josh’s face.

“I didn’t kill her!” Than it hit Josh. He knew he didn’t kill Julia-somebody else had. Who was fighting when he first arrived that night? Paul and Julia? What about? Could it have lead Paul to go crazy and kill his own wife? Josh didn’t know, but he planned to find out.

“Paul, what where you and Julia fighting about? You know, just before I showed up.”

“What the Hell are you talking about?” Paul said, spitting in Josh’s face.

“Don’t deny you weren’t fight, you said ‘I can’t take it anymore,’ or something like that. Why were you fighting?” Josh looked Paul in the eye.

“I don’t believe why that’s your business, Josh.”

“Really, you wife is upstairs, dead, and I think you killed her.” Josh said. Paul looked him into the eye, and turned away. Paul looked down and begin to cry.

“How did you know I killed her? Yes, we where fighting.  We where fighting about my afire. She caught me in bed with the bed. I killed them both. One of  them would tell.” Josh gasp. How could a man cheat on his wife? He would never cheat on dear Annie.

“But..Why did you kill them?” Josh mustered.

“Because in today’s world, when one cheats on his wife, let alone with a maid who is twenty years younger then them, it’s frowned on. My business would be down, our life ruined. You have a wife, I guess?” Josh nodded. “You l thirty right? What if you where cheating on your lovely wife with a eighteen year old? How would your circle of friends act? Your family? You own child!” Josh nodded, but he had no clue what he meant. He would never cheat on Annie with anybody-let alone a fifth teen year old!

“So, you see, I had to kill them. And know, Josh. I have to kill you two. You know my secret. And you WILL tell.”

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Author guidance for This story

This short story was written for the Summer Prose Competition of 2011. It is based upon the following writers prompt and challenges given below.

:} S2PC2 Elorithryn

SHORT STORY 1 POMPT (Challenges 1 and 2)
Someone's transportation breaks down when they are traveling home from a trip late at night in front of a place of rest. However, there's a certain atmosphere around this place that puts the character off, but it's the only one around for miles. According to the place's policy, the room is paid for in advance, so the person has no choice but to spend the night there. As time progresses the atmosphere only gets more intense. Does the person make it through the night? Do they get fixed and return to their 'normal' life?

Challenge 1
1) You must establish at least two characters. They may both be protagonists, a protagonist and an antagonist, or even two antagonists. One can even be a supporting character who doesn't have much of a part, but there must be at least two characters.
2) Your point of view cannot be Omniscient. In other words you cannot write as if you were the God, "moving from character to character, event to event, with free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of all characters". (Yes, that's taken directly from your questionnaire.)
3) One of your characters must be going through some sort of internal struggle, such as making a difficult decision, overcoming pain, quieting their temper, etc. Do not resolve this conflict, but hint at how it might be resolved.

Challenge 2
1) Maintain the perspective and tone from the first entry. Match your style to the previous chapter so that it's hard to tell this entry was written by someone different.
2) Resolve the internal conflict of the character from the previous challenge. But at some point we should wonder if we guessed the hint your partner left for us correctly. If the character doesn't go the direction hinted, it should be clear why.
3) Introduce one new character at the very end (as in the last quarter of the writing). This person may have immediate significance or you may only hint that they might have significance; whether it was in the past or will be in the future.

updated Jul 15 '11 by SeasonalProseCompetition