Post Mortem

Chapter 3

Jane woke up in the middle of the night, in her pitch black chambers, clutching the comforter to her chest. She could feel Carlton next to her, his face buried in her shoulder and his arms thrown around her waist, silently dreaming. She could have sworn she'd heard something upstairs by the guest bedroom, creaking wood like footsteps. It was probably just the old house, battling the winds that recklessly threw themselves against the foundation.

Somebody coughed upstairs; a thick, sickly cough that reminded her all too well of Carlton's. . . But he was sleeping soundly right next to her- so who was up in the guest bedroom?
Jane was frightened and found herself violently trying to shake Carlton awake, her hands squeezing his shoulders and he blindly batted at the air, trying to get her to stop.
" darling, please let me sleep!" He groaned.
" but there's someone upstairs!" She persisted. " I heard them cough!" His eyes immediately flew open and he shot up, pushing her hands off of him.
" you heard someone cough?"
Jane nodded furtively as he climbed out of bed, grabbing one of his canes, a beautiful piece of carved mahogany with a gold handle, and pulled his slippers on to his feet.
" stay back" he growled, eyes up on the ceiling as another creak sounded. He was strangely calm for being just woken up by his hysterical wife who was claiming an intruder was in the house. He disappeared out the bedroom door, gripping the cane as a weapon. She sat up in bed, terrified. Jane would have followed him, but if there was an intruder, it would be quite improper for someone other than her husband or a maid to see her in her sleeping gown.
Carlton's footsteps echoed up to the third level of the house, slow and cautious, poised to strike.
Jane heard a loud crack of wood. Another, another. She screamed, frightened that Carlton was being murdered upstairs and that she, his innocent young wife, would stumble across the bloody scene, only to receive the same fate. She dashed out of bed, sprinting so quickly that she tripped more than once on the carpet. She turned the corner, skirts flying.
"Carlton!" Jane screamed, barreling straight into him and tackling him into the ground.
"Good lord Jane, what's gotten into you?!" He asked, looking up at her, who was still pinning him to the carpet by his shoulders.
"I-I just wanted to. . . " she trailed off as both of their eyes fell on the cane. It was splintered in half, the brown polish chipper beyond repair. It must have broken beneath Carlton in the fall.
"Dammit woman !" He roared. " look what you've done!" A slap across her cheek sent Jane flying backwards off of him, smacking her against the wall. Her face burned where his wedding band had struck her cheek.
A hand instinctively reached up to hold her face, only to pull away when she felt warm crimson dripping from her upper lip. She looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes as he pulled himself off the ground and towered over her.
"Carlton?" She whispered. He'd never even thought of laying a hand on her before.
He bit his lip. He knew what he'd done and he wasn't very proud of it. He reached down softly to wipe a bit of the blood that poured down her chin.
". . . Let's go clean this up before it gets all over the carpet" was all he could muster before he pulled her to her feet and helped her downstairs, kicking the broken cane out of the way.
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Jane sat in a chair at the dining room table, dabbing a wet cloth to her lip as Carlton silently wiped dried blood off her chin and neck. After a few moments he sighed and pulled away, setting both rags on the counter and turning his back to her.
"You should go back to bed. . . It's not even sunrise yet"
Without another word he turned and exited the room, leaving Jane alone with her thoughts.