Author's Note – An Animorphs version of William Faulkner's famous short story "A Rose for Emily". Enjoy!
A Rose for Emily
"Emily… Emily, let me go."
I pretended not to hear him as I finished with the dishes. Homer just liked to be quarrelsome and I'm not in the mood to deal with it tonight. We just had a lovely dinner with candlelight and romantic music. It's our 50th anniversary after all. Why spoil it with a fight?
"Emily, my three days is almost up. You've got to understand I'm not your husband! Your husband is-"
"Homer!" I snapped, turning around to face him. "I don't want to discuss this. You're not going anyway. Look at you! How could you possibly go outside looking like that? No, its better you stay here with me. I'll keep you company. I'll always keep you company." I said pleadingly, looking into my husband's eyes.
They were no longer the soft brown that I remembered. Instead, they are coated with a strange film. His skin is yellow and his body is almost completely immobile. It took forever to get him into that chair. There are dark purple spots on his arms that hang limply by his side. But my eyes go straight to his chest. There's a small hole there, it looks black and empty. I just got so mad at him! He was always sneaking off. I didn't mean to shoot him. Luckily it didn't do any damage. He's still okay. Everything is fine. Everything is going to be fine. He stinks to high heaven, though. I told a neighbor yesterday that there was probably a dead cat in the sewer.
I'm starting to get annoyed now. Homer is just sitting there staring at me with those dead eyes. He's angry with me for not letting him out, but why would he want to go? I'm here, I'll always be here.
"Don't think I don't know where it is that you want to sneak off to." I snipped. "You're always running off to those stupid Share meetings. If I didn't know any better I'd say that you were having an affair. That woman who runs those meetings is awfully pretty." I begin to laugh hysterically. "Well, it looks like she'll be waiting a long time for you to show up!" I continue laughing. The jokes on her because my husband is never, ever leaving me again.
"Emily… please…" It's getting hard for him to talk. His jaw is as stiff as the rest of his body. I walk over and sit in his lap, throwing my arms around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Come on back to the bedroom." I say with a wink. "And I'll make sure you'll forget all about those stupid Share meetings."
Fin
